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MANCHESTER, N. H., IN J 854.
MANCHESTER
HISTORIC ASSOCIATION
COLLECTIONS
VOLUME III. 1902 -1903
MANCHESTER, N. H.
Manchester Historic Association
1903
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MANCHESTER
HISTORIC ASSOCIATION
COLLECTIONS
VOLUME III. 1902 -1903
MANCHESTER, N. H.
Manchester Historic Association
1903
OFFICERS, 1903.
President. — Henry W. Herrick.
Vice-Presidents. — Joseph W. Fellows, Josiah Carpenter.
Treasurer. — John Dowst.
Recording Secretary. — Frank W. Sargeant.
Corresponding Secretary. — G. Waldo Browne.
Librarian. — Roland Eowell.
Historiographer. — J. Warren Thyng.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
Henry W. Herrick, ex-officio.
Frank W. Sargeant, ex-officio.
George C. Gilmore.
Charles C. Hayes.
Charles B. Sturtevant.
John G. Crawford.
David Cross.
G. Waldo Browne.
Edward P. Richardson.
publication committee.
G. Waldo Browne.
Sylvester C. Gould.
Francis B. Eaton.
Roland Rowell.
J. Arthur Williams.
Printed by the John £. Clarke Co.
CONTENTS.
1163322
tf
Page
Preface vii
"~""\ General James Wilson, Hon. James F. Briggs 1
j^ Old Bridge Street Pound, Orrin H. Leavitt 27
— ~ Sketch of Dumbarton, N. H., Ella Mills 33
> Asiatic Cholera in Manchester, Col. George C. Gilmore 53
^ Rock Rimmon, William Ellery Moore 58
Narrative of James Johnson, G. Waldo Browne 60
Early Recollections of Manchester, Joseph Kidder 65
Water Supply of Manchester, William B. Blake 79
Story of a Private Soldier in the Revolution, John
Foster 86
The Two James Rogers, Hon. Josiah H. Drummond 97
I ' Josiah H. Drummond (Sketch), G. Waldo Browne 107
Derryfield in the Revolution, G. Waldo Browne 110
Major John Webster, Sebastian S. Griffin 118
The Story of Lake Massabesic, Francis B. Eaton 121
George W. Morrison, Hon. Joseph W. Fellows 139
Then and Now, J. Trask Plumer 159
The Old Times Muster, J. Trask Plumer 172
Gen. John Stark's Home Farm, Roland Rowell 183
Smallpox Epidemic of 1834, Clarence M. Platts 203
Manchester as a Village 211
- \- Preserving Places of Historic Interest 215
HISTORIC QUARTERLY SUPPLEMENT.
Page
Manchester Historic Association, The Editor i
Proceedings, March 19, 1902 vii
Proceedings, June 18, 1902 ix
Proceedings, September 17, 1902 xiii
Proceedings, October 8, 1902 xiv
Old New England Roof trees, Mary C. Crawford xv
Molly Stark's Gentleman Son, Mary C. Crawford xvi
4 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
MEMOIRS OF THE MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION.
Page
Caleb Stark's Mansion, Mary C. Crawford xvi
Francis W. Parker, V. S. C xxi
Charles H. Bartlett, J. P. T xxiii
Nathan P. Kidder, L. A. K xxvi
John M. Chandler, T. P. W. R xxx
William A. Truesdale, V. S. C xxxiv
Luther S. Proctor, G. W. B xxxv
Joseph R. Weston, C xxxvii
Mrs. Clarissa P. Herrick, H xxxviii
Horace Pettee, S. E. P xl
Andrew Mungall, G. W. B xli
Joseph Kidder, F. B. E xliii
Charles W. Temple, G. W. B xlvii
Joseph H. Wig-gin, G. W. B xlix
Ebenezer Ferren, F. M. C li
William P. Merrill, S. A. lii
MEMOIRS FOR 1903.
William H. Elliott, F. B. E
Gilman Clough, The Editor
George W. Weeks, G. W. B
William T. Evans, The Editor
Rt. Rev. Denis M. Bradley, J. B. D
Page
lv
lvii
lix
lxii
lxiv
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Manchester in 1854. From a painting by Baehelder. Frontispiece
Page
Portrait, Gen. James Wilson, Opp 1
Eock Rimmon, Opp 58
Manchester in 1843 70
Old Town House 76
Portrait, Josiah H. Drummond 107
Lake Massabesic, Opp 121
Cohas Brook 123
Brown's Island 124
Brown Homestead, Opp 124
Proctor Homestead, Opp 126
Old Cogswell House 127
Original Massabesic Hotel 129
Second Massabesic Hotel 130
Old Folsom Tavern, Opp 131
Fox Homestead, Opp 132
Parker Stable, Opp 133
Parker Farmhouse, Opp 134
The Willows 137
Portrait, George W. Morrison, Opp 139
HISTORIC QUARTERLY SUPPLEMENT.
Page
Gavel, Block and Box presented the Manchester His-
toric Association by R. L. Reed xi
PORTRAITS OF DECEASED MEMBERS.
Page
Charles H. Bartlett, Opp xxiii
Nathan P. Kidder, Opp xxvi
John M. Chandler, Opp xxx
5
6 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
Page
Luther S. Proctor, Opp xxxv
Mrs. Clarissa P. Herrick, Opp xxxviii
Horace Pettee, Opp xl
Andrew Mtmgall, Opp xlii
Joseph Kidder, Opp xliv
Joseph H. Wiggin, Opp xlix
Ebenezer Ferren, Opp li
William P. Merrill, Opp lii
PREFACE.
After the delays that usually accompany such an undertak-
ing, the third volume of the Collections of the Manchester His-
toric Association is herewith presented to the public. With
one or two exceptions, the articles have been prepared expressly
for publication, and it is believed will prove interesting, if not
valuable reading for a .considerable number. For the first
time an index has been prepared, which seems essential to the
completeness of a work of this kind. While the association
has been occupying pleasant rooms for some time as its head-
quarters and repository for its growing library, it feels the
need of more funds with which to carry on the work of publi-
cation. In truth, the thanks of the society are due those who
have so generously contributed toward defraying the expense
of this volume.
The undersigned take this opportunity to acknowledge their
indebtedness to those who have so kindly assisted them in the
preparation of the different papers given here. There are still
others of quite as great value awaiting their turn, and it is the
hope of the committee that the matter of publication may be
continued more regularly than it has in the past.
Eespectfully submitted.
Geokge W. Browne,
Sylvester C. Gould,
Francis B. Eaton,
EOLAND EOWELL,
J. Arthur Williams,
i Publication Committee,
Q
Z
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H *?
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Gen. James Wilson.
GENERAL JAMES WILSON.
A PAPER BY HON. JAMES F. BRIGGS, READ BEFORE THE MAN-
CHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION, OCTOBER 3, I90O. '
Mr. President : I regret that the duty of furnishing a sketch
of the life and public services of Hon. James Wilson, late of
Keene, N. H. s had not been assigned to some one better quali-
fied to do justice to the memory of this remarkable man. By
way of introduction, with your permission, I desire to say a few
words of his father, James Wilson, to show the seed from which
he sprang.
James Wilson, the father of James Wilson, Jr., was born in
Peterboro, N. H., in 1757. He fitted for college at Phillips
Academy, at Andover, Mass. ; entered Harvard in 1785 ; and
graduated in 1789. He was reputed to be one of the most
skillful wrestlers in college, which was then the test of champion-
ship. He took the badge in his Freshman year and retained it
during his whole course. His distinction in this particular was
justified by the remark of John Quincy Adams to his son,
" Long Jim/' when he learned his parentage, " Your father
was the best wrestler in college."
On his graduation he entered the office of Judge Lincoln of
Worcester, Mass., as a student of the law. He remained with
Judge Lincoln until December, 1790, when he was called home
on account of the death of his father. He remained in Peter-
boro from that time, completing his studies with Judge Jeremiah
Smith then in practice in the town of Peterboro. He was ad-
mitted to the New Hampshire Bar in 1792. Judge Smith hav-
ing been elected to Congress from New Hampshire, and con-
tinuing in that office for several succeeding years finally, re-
moved to Exeter and Mr. Wilson continued his practice in his
Z MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
native town, until his removal to Keene in the year 1815.
He retired from the active professional duties of his office on
the admission of his son to the bar, in 1823, an d devoted his
time to his private affairs.
James Wilson, Sr., is represented to have been a good lawyer,
familiar with the science of the law, a man of quick preception,
careful and thorough in the preparation of his cases, and he
conducted them before the court and jury with marked ability
and success.
His practice in Cheshire and Hillsborough counties was ex-
tensive, and he was generally retained on one side or the other
in every important case. When asked by Mr. Levi Chamberlain
why he did not address the reason of the jury instead of their
feelings, he replied : " Too small a mark ; too small a mark
for me to hit."
James Wilson was elected from the Hillsborough District of
New Hampshire a Representative in the Eleventh Congress of
the United States as a Federalist. He served with distinction
from May 22, 1809, to March 3, 1811. His term of service,
though brief, was one that no descendant of his, familiar with
his services, but will be proud of the record he made.
There were many young men in New Hampshire who were
students in his office who afterwards achieved distinction in their
profession. Among them were Gen. James Miller, John Wilson,
David Smiley, Thomas F. Goodhue, Zaccheus Parker, Stephen
P. Steele, David Scott, Charles J. Stewart, and Matthew Perkins
After he removed to Keene his students were David Steele
Amos Parker, Amasa Edes, and his son James Wilson, Jr
Mr. Wilson held many offices of trust and honor in his native
town. He was moderator from 1800 to 1814; and representa
tive to the Legislature from 1803 to 1815. He was a member
of Congress from the Hillsborough District from 1809 to 181 1,
being the first two years of President Madison's administration.
He was an old-fashioned Federalist. He was a grateful, dutiful
son, a good husband, a sympathetic parent, very kind to his
children and to all his friends ; a good citizen, and noble-heart-
GENERAL JAMES WILSON. 3
ed man. He was industrious, just, vigilant in all matters of
business. He died at Keene, January 4, 1839, universally
respected and lamented, at the age of 73 years.
James Wilson, Jr., was born in Peterboro, N. H., March 18,
1797, and died at Keene, N. H., May 29, i88t. He was
the son of James Wilson and Elizabeth Steele. His early life
was passed in his native town, with only such educational privi-
leges as were there to be had, which at that early day were very
limited. His mother became an invalid when her son James
was only two years old, and remained so during the remainder
of her life, thus depriving him of that kind, maternal care and
attention so indispensable to the proper development of a young
mind. She departed this life when he was in the ninth year of
his age.
In the year 1807, young Wilson was sent for a few months to
the academy at New Ipswich. In 1808, he was sent to the
Atkinson Academy, where he remained for some three or four
years. In the year 18 13, he attended Phillips (Exeter) Acad-
emy, at Exeter, N. H., for some six months.
Our country was then involved in war with Great Britain,
and young Wilson at sixteen years of age was desirous of join-
ing the American army, as some of his acquaintances but little
older than himself had already done. His father would not
give his consent to his son's enlistment, and he was not old
enough to be subject to the draft. Disappointed at being de-
prived of the privilege of entering upon a military career, he
left Exeter, and returning to his native town he went into the
North Factory at Peterboro, and continued to work there from
the Autumn of 1813 until the Spring of 1815, when peace be-
tween the United States and England was proclaimed. Young
Wilson went home in the Spring and worked on his father's
farm as a common farm-laborer. In the Autumn of that year,
as his father was about removing to Keene, the son picked up
his books and went back to his studies.
He entered Middlebury College (Vt.) in 1816 ; graduated from
that institution in 1826 ; entered his father's office at Keene as a
4 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
student at law, and was admitted to the bar in Cheshire county,
N. H., at the Fall term, 1823.
His father, James Wilson, Sr., retired from the active profes-
sional duties of his office on the admission of his son to the
bar, and the young man attaining to his father's business, con-
tinued to practice law in Cheshire, Sullivan, Grafton, and
Coos counties, until the year 1836, when by a stroke of paraly-
sis his father became unable to attend to his own private affairs,
and then required his son's assistance. He then gave up
the Northern counties and continued the practice of law in
Cheshire county.
On leaving college in 1820, and fixing his residence at Keene,
James Wilson, Jr., entered the military service of the State.
He was elected Captain of the Keene Light Infantry on the
first day of January, 182 1, and continued in the militia, con-
stantly doing duty, until 1839, when he resigned the office of
Major-General of the Third Division of the New Hampshire
Militia.
At the March election in 1825. he was chosen as one of the
two Representatives from the town of Keene to the State
Legislature.
In 1828, he was elected Speaker of the House of Representa-
tives of New Hampshire, the duties of which he performed with
signal ability to the acceptance of all parties. In that House
there were several men of distingushed reputation and of
prominent standing in the Whig party, such as the Hon. Ezekiel
Webster, the Hon. Benjamin M. Farley, the Hon. Joseph Bell,
the Hon. Parker Noyes, and others from different parts of the
State. From the year 1825 to the year 1840 inclusive, he rep-
resented the town of Keene in the State Legislature every year,
except 1833, 1838, and 1839. The last two years, namely, 1838
and 1839, he was the candidate of the Whig party in the State
for Governor, but was defeated by his Democratic opponent.
The year 1840 was a year of great political awakening in this
country. The Democratic party had nominated Martin Van
Buren for President of the United States for a second term.
GENERAL JAMES WILSON.
The Whigs went into the political battle uuder the banner of
1 Tippecanoe and Tyler too,' f and with them ' determined to
' beat little Van.' The Whigs succeeded. Gen. James Wilson,
of New Hampshire (' Long Jim/ as he was familiarly called),
did a good deal of political service in that campaign. He
stumped almost all the New England states, spoke several
times in Pennsylvania, and gave a whole month's work, on the
stump, in the State of New York, Mr. Van Buren's state. Mr.
Van Buren lost New York, Pennsylvania, and most of the New
England States, and was defeated.
Gen. Harrison was elected President, and John Tyler Vice-
President. They were inaugurated on the 4th of March, 1841.
Gen. Harrison lived only one month after his inauguration, and
Mr. Tyler succeeded to the Presidency. About June, 1841,
Mr. Tyler offered to Gen. Wilson the office of Surveyor-General
of the Public Lands in the then Territories of Wisconsin and
Iowa, which office he accepted, and took possession of the Sur-
veyor-General's office, at Dubuque, Iowa, in the early part of
the summer. He continued to hold that office and to perform
its duties for four years. In 1845, James K. Polk having been
elected President, he was removed.
In 1846, the voters of the town of Keene returned Gen.
Wilson again, as their representative, to the General Court.
That year the Whigs and a party styling themselves ' Indepen-
dent Democrats ' succeeded in defeating the regular old line
Democracy in New Hampshire. The State was districted for
the choice of Representatives to Congress, and the following
year he was elected Representative from the Third Congres-
sional District to the Thirtieth Congress. He was re-elected to
the Thirty-First Congress, and held his seat until the 9th day
of September, 1850, when he resigned and left this Eastern
country for California. He resided in California eleven years
continuously, and only returned East at the breaking out of
the of the Civil War in 1861. On meeting his old friend
Abraham Lincotn, then President of the United States, Mr.
Lincoln offered him a Brigadier-General's commission in the
6 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
army of the United States, which offer Gen. Wilson declined,
for the reason of his advanced age and his physical infirmities.
He remained East about a year and a half, giving such aid and
moral support as he could to the Union cause. He returned
to California in the Autumn of 1862, and resided there until
1867, when he left the Pacific coast and returned to his old
home in Keene, to live out the residue of his days among his
old friends and acquaintances who had been so true and kind
to him throughout so many, many years. In 1870 and 1871,
the voters of Keene elected him again to represent them in the
General Court of the State of New Hampshire.
He was married to Mary L. Richardson, of Montpelier, Vt.,
November 26, 1823. His wife died in 1848.
Their children were : Mary, born Oct. 27, 1826, (she married
John Sherwood of New York); James E., born 1827, died
March 9, 1832 ; William R. } born Nov. 2, 1830, died March 17,
1834 ; Annie F., born Sept. 23, 1832, (she married Col. Francis
S. Fisk) ; Charlotte F., born Aug. 31, 1835, sne (married
Frank S. Taintor of New York) ; James H., born Dec. 4, 1837 ;
Daniel W., born Feb. 13, 1841, died Jan. 18, 1846.
He was widely known as a military man, a lawyer, and an
orator. His power of addressing and holding jurors, and a
great multitude in times of excitement was extraordinary as
will be illustrated in the instances hereafter recorded.
His celebrated speech speech at the Peterboro Centennial
received universal commendation. It was in part as follows :
11 Mr. President : I regret that I am called upon to respond
to the sentiment which has just been announced, and received
with so much approbation by this great assembly. Upon look-
ing over the list of sentiments yesterday, I was informed that
the one just read was designed to call out that highly respected,
time honored gentleman, Hon. Jeremiah Smith, of Exeter, a man
who feels proud of the place of his nativity, and who on all prop-
er occasions has a good word to say of and for old Peterboro.
We should have been delighted to have seen that venerable and
venerated man here, and to have heard him, in his usual elo-
GENERAL JAMES WILSON. 7
quent and forcible manner, his reminiscences of by-gone times.
He has indeed grown old, but not old enough yet to forget
any good thing. His mind is richly stored with varied learning,
and his knowledge of the early history of the town, the pecul-
iarities of its early inhabitants, his great fund of wit and anec-
dote connected with the first settlers, very far exceeds that of
any living man ; and there is now no one of the emigrants who
could so well give an apt response to your highly complimentary
sentiment as that worthy octogenarian. I was heart-pained to
learn last evening that his attendance is prevented by physical
infirmity. In his absence I could have wished that another
highly respected son of Peterboro, of the Smith family, had
been here to have spoken in our behalf. I allude to one more
nearly allied to you, Mr. President, your eldest son, my most
esteemed friend. We are of nearly the same age. Our friend-
ship dates back to the days of our childhood. Our intimacy
commenced in that little, square, hipped-roof schoolhouse that
formerly stood between your homestead and the homestead of
my honored father. It was an intimacy in the outset character-
ized by the ardor of youth, and grew with our increasing years
into the strong and unwavering friendship of mature manhood.
There has never been a moment's estrangement. For thirty
years no frost has chilled it, nor can it grow cold until the clods
shall rumble upon our coffins. Glad, indeed, should I have
been to have met once more my friend here, to have grasped
him by the hand, to have looked upon his slender form and his
pale features, to have listened to the tones of his clear voice, to
have caught and treasured up the sentiments of a mind as clear
as the atmosphere upon the summits of our native hills, and a
heart as pure as the fountains that gush from their base.
From the sad tidings that I hear of his declining health, I fear
that I shall never meet him on this side the grave. May a mer-
ciful God bless him.
Well may Peterboro express her joy at the success of her ab-
sent sons, and pride herself upon them when she numbers such
men as these among them.
8 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
Your sentiment, sir, breathes the prayer that we, the emi-
grants, may not forgec the place of our nativity. I can hardly
realize that I am an emigrant. True, sir, a wave of Providence
has taken me up, wafted me onward, and cast me upon land
not far distant. Although my domicile is in another place, it is
here that I seem most at home. It is here that I enjoy all
those pleasures derived from early recollection and early associ-
ations. It is here that every natural object that meets my eye has
some story to relate of high interest to my mind ; here every
house and tree, stump and stone, hill and brook, presents to me
image of some old, familiar, well-loved friend. It is here that
I meet my earliest friends, and their greeting seems warmer,
and more cordial than elsewhere. It was here that I first enjoyed
that substantial Peterboro hospitality so well understood and so
highly appreciated by every one at all acquainted with the peo-
ple of the town some some thirty years ago. Let me not be
understood, Mr. President, as drawing a comparison unfavorable
to the good people with whom I am in more immediate inter-
course at the present time. No, sir, I reside among an excel-
lent and a worthy community, to whom I am bound in a large
debt of gratitude. They have manifested toward me a kindness
and a confidence vastly beyond my merits ; and I am sure they
will not esteem me the less for finding me susceptible of emo-
tion at the recollections and fond associations of my childhood.
Forget Peterboro. How can I forget her ? Why, sir, I was
born just over there. The bones of my ancestors, both paternal
and maternal, are deposited just over there. And among them
there repose the remains of my mother. Oh, sir, it would be
cold and heartless ingratitude to forget the place where one's
earliest and best friend slumbers in death.
" Ingratitude. Thou marble-hearted fiend,
More hideous, when thou show'st thee in a child,
Than the sea-monster. 1 '
Spare me, oh, spare me such a reproach. My prayer to
Heaven is, that when these eyes shall grow dim, this tongue be-
come dumb, when these lungs shall cease to heave, and this
GENERAL JAMES WILSON. y
heart to throw off a pulsation, then this head and limbs may
be laid to crumble down to dust by side of thine, my mother.
I have watched with intense interest the wonderful improv-
ments that have been carried forward in my native town within
the last thirty years. When I was a boy, a weekly mail, carried
upon horseback by a very honest old man by the name of Gibbs,
afforded all the mail facilities which the business of the town
required. Now, sir, we see a stage-coach pass and repass
through this beautiful village every day, loaded with passengers
and transporting a heavy mail. Your highways and bridges
have been astonishingly improved, showing a praiseworthy lib-
erality on the part of the town to that important subject. Your
progress in agriculture, manufactures, and the mechanic arts
exhibits striking evidence of the progress of improvement.
Look abroad now upon the finely cultivated fields, the substan-
tial fences, the comfortable, yea, elegant dwellings, the superb
manufacturing buildings, the splendid churches and seminaries
of learning, and in view of all these let the mind for a moment
contrast it with the prospect which presented itself to the eye
of the first settler as he attained the summit of East moun-
tain one hundred years ago. Then not a human habitation for
the eye to repose on over the whole extent of this basin-like
township — one unbroken forest throughout the eye's most ex-
tensive range. No sound of music or hum of cheerful industry
saluted his ear. It was only the howl of the savage beast, or
the yell of the still more savage man, that broke the appalling
stillness of the forest. What a wonderful change a hundred
years hath wrought here, and what unshrinking energy of char-
acter was requisite to induce the commencement of the under-
taking.
Some of the old objects of interest to me in my younger days
are gone ; their places, indeed, have been supplied by more ex-
pensive and elegant structures. Still, I must say, I regret their
loss. And let me ask, Mr. President, are you quite sure that
the loss may not manifest itself in some future time ? I allude,
10 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
sir, to the loss of the old church on the hill there, and the old
beech tree tree that stood hard by. I look, even at this period
of life, upon that spot with a kind of superstitious reverence.
Many are the noble resolutions that young minds have formed
under the shade of the old beech tree. Intellectual indolence
is the prevailing fault of our times. Under the old beech, in
my young days, the great and the talented men of this town
used to assemble, and there discuss with distinguished power
and ability the most important topics. Religion, politics, litera-
ture agriculture, and various other important subjects were
there discussed. Well, distinctly well, do I remember those
debates carried on by the Smiths, the Morrisons, the Steeles,
the Holmes, the Robbes, the Scotts, the Todds, the Millers,
and perhaps I may be excused for adding the Wilsons and
others. No absurd proposition or ridiculous idea escaped ex-
posure for a single moment. A debater there had to draw
himself up close, be precise in his logic, and correct in his lan-
guage to command respectful attention. Abler discussion was
never listened to anywhere. Strong thought and brilliant con-
ceptions broke forth in clear and select language. They were
reading men, talking men, forcibiy talking men, and sensible
men. Bright intellectual sparks were constantly emanating
from those great native minds, and, falling upon younger
minds, kindled their slumbering energies to subsequent nobler
exertion. The immediate effect of those discussions could be
easily traced in the beaming eye and the agitated muscles of
the excited listeners. It was obvious to an acute observer that
there was a powerful effort going on in many a young mind
among the hearers, to seize, retain, and examine some of the
grand ideas that had been started by the talkers. This rousing
of the young mind to manly exertion, and aiding it in arriving
at a consciousness of its own mighty powers, was of great ad-
vantage where the seeds of true genius had been planted by the
hand of nature. If any of the Peterboro boys, within the last
thirty years, have attained to anything like intellectual great-
ness, my life on it, they date the commencement of their prog-
GENERAL JAMES WILSON. 11
ress from the scenes under the old beech tree. A thousand
times have I thought, Mr. President, if I had the world's wealth
at my command I would cheerfully have bartered it all for the
ability to talk as well as those men talked. Antiquity may
boast of her schools of philosophy ; the present may point to
her debating clubs and lyceums, and talk loud as it will of
modern improvement ; give me the sound good sense that
rolled unrestrained from eloquent lips under the old beech, and
it is of more worth than all. I shall always respect the spot
where it grew, and even now it grieves me to see the greensward
that sheltered its roots torn too roughly by the ploughshare.
I had purposed, Mr. President, to have asked the attention
of the audience to some few remarks on the all-important subject
of education. Old Peterboro has hitherto given her full share
of educated men to the public, and I cannot but hope that she
will not now permit her neighbors to go ahead of her in this
particular. The shades of evening, however, admonish me that
I must not trespass further. I must tender my thanks to the
.audience for the very kind and polite attention they have given
me during my remarks I have felt constrained to make at this
late hour in the afternoon. Allow me to say in conclusion :
The sons and daughters of Peterboro, native and adopted :
in all good deeds may they prove themselves worthy of the
nobie stock that has gone before them.
General Wilson was greatly interested in military affairs. He
was appointed Captain of the Keene Light Infantry January i,
182 1, and successfully passed through all the various ranks
until he was appointed Major-General in the Third Division of
the New Hampshire Militia. He continued in the service until
1839, when he resigned. At this time there were very few mili-
tary men his equal.
He was a strict disciplinarian, popular with his soldiers and
brought his command to a high state of proficiency. June 28,
1833, Andrew Jackson, President of the United States, visited
Concord, N. H. This was the great day at the capital. Thou-
sands of people gathered at Concord from all parts of the State
12 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
to'pay their respect to the President. He was accompanied by
Vice-President Martin Van Bure.n, Secretary of War Lewis Cass,
Secretary of the Navy Levi Woodbury, Major Andrew f J. Don-
elson, Secretary of the President, and many distinguished men
were present.
The military display was of the highest order. It consisted
of eight picked companies. The best disciplined, the most
efficient, the largest and the best drilled was the celebrated
Keene Light Infantry commanded by Gen. James Wilson.
This company attracted the attention and excited the admira-
tion of General Jackson and its Captain was personally con-
gratulated for its fine appearance by him.
General Wilson was the most striking and attractive person
that I ever met. He was a giant physically as well as intellec-
tually. Wherever he went, whatever he did, he attracted the
attention of all who saw him. He was beloved by his friends,
honored by the people, and idolized by his family. There
was a charm about his personality that made all who knew him
ever hold him in loving remembrance. New Hampshire never
had a son more widely loved than Gen. Wilson. " He was
six feet and four inches in height, well built, erect, with deep set
bright blue eyes, a wealth of black, curly hair, stern and deter-
mined, yet fascinating, countenance," and often spoke of himself
as a rough hewn block from the Granite State, and everywhere
was spoken of by his friends as " Long Jim Wilson." As a law-
yer he was able and successful, and won a high reputation.
As an advocate he had few equals and no superior. Before
juries his eloquence was irresistible. He could excite them to
laughter or move them to tears at his will. When appealing to
the sympathy of the jury his opponents would often say,
11 Wilson is boring for water," or " pumping for tears."
Gen. Wilson as an orator was unequaled. His power of ad-
dressing and holding great multitudes in times of excitement
was wonderful. He took an active part in the Presidential
campaign of 1840 and proved himself to be one of the most
eloquent and efficient popular orators of his time.
GENERAL JAMES WILSON. 13
Ex-Governor Bell, in his " Bench and Bar," says of him as
follows : " His qualifications for this were unequalled ; his
physique was on a majestic scale ; his voice sonorous ; his lan-
guage was the purest vernacular ; his logic had the grip of the
vise ; he was always prodigiously in earnest ; his illustrations
and witty sallies were irresistible and he often broke out in
strains of bold and moving eloquence."
There are many anecdotes told of him, illustrating his won-
derful influence over the crowds that gathered to hear him.
He often captured his hearers by the opening sentence of his
speech. He began one of them, I think, in New York, " I am
six feet and four in my stockings and every inch a Whig."
At one of his outdoor meetings in 1840, in the Harrison
campaign, a shower came up which threatened to disperse the
audience. He deliberately pulled off his coat (as usual) and
began, " The only rain that I have any fear of is the reign
of Martin Van Buren." He had hearers enough after that.
In some of the States farther west it was the custom of both
parties to hold public meetings on the same day in the same
field. When speakers occupied stands not far apart he cap-
tured the entire crowd and on one occasion he left not a single
hearer for the other side.
At the first meeting of the Sons of New Hampshire in Bos-
ton, in 1843, ne was present and called upon to speak to the
sentiment, " The families we left behind." Many speakers had
preceded him and their speeches if good were rather formal,
but when Gen. Wilson rose to speak the tones of a hearty, sym-
pathetic voice roused the feelings of his audience and his touch-
ing picture of the old folk at home stirred every heart to its
depth. " We will go back," " said he, " and tell the mothers
and sisters how well the boys behave when they are away from
home." This speech gave voice to the genuine feeling of all
hearts and was welcomed with cheering, earnest, prolonged and
again and again renewed.
The fame of Gen. Wilson as an orator was well known in
New Hampshire. When I was a boy, living in Holderness,
14 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
N. H., now Ashland, I saw a poster announcing that James
Wilson would addresss the people at Wentworth on a certain
day. Although then a minor I determined to go. It was a
stormy day ; the snow was deep and I braved the storm and
arrived at Wentworth in season for the meeting.
It was held in the church and before Mr. Wilson appeared it
was filled to its utmost capacity I sat near the pulpit when
Mr. Wilson came in. His immense physique, his dark, rough
features, curly, black hair and deep set, blue eyes will never be
forgotten. The meeting was promptly called to order and Gen.
Wilson began his speech. He held the vast audience for over
two hours with such a speech as I never had listened to before,
and never have since heard surpassed. His speech was upon
the political issues that divided the political parties.
It was a masterly effort, forcible, eloquent, and unanswerable.
The applause was hearty, frequent, and prolonged. He drew a
parallel between the slave states and the free states ; the con-
dition between the laborers in the south and at the north ; the
political power exercised by the south in the government over
the north. He declared it not only the right but the duty of
the north to prevent the extension of slavery over the free ter-
ritories of the United States. He clearly, frankly, and fear-
lessly defined his position upon the questions involved in the
contest and closed amid cheers and hearty congratulations of
his friends.
The fame of Gen. Wilson as an orator was already known in
Washington when he entered the National House of Represen-
tatives, and while there he made several speeches, but facilities
for reporting them were not equal to those of today and but a
few brief reports of them are preserved. His great speech on
the slavery question, on February 19, 1848, attracted great
attention.
One who was present tells me that he went into the House
and found it filled to its utmost capacity. This person went
into the Senate chamber first and found it almost deserted.
Then he went over to the house, and found most of the Sena-
GENERAL JAMES WILSON. 15
ors there. Wilson had just begun his speech. The House was
still, no clapping for pages, no moving about, but all were
attentively listening to Gen. Wilson and his voice was clear and
sonorous and reached every part of the House.
He possessed great power of statement. His utterance was
rapid, but his enunciation was distinct. At times he was gentle
and sympathetic ; at others, bold and aggressive ; but the whole
speech was a remarkable illustration of his power as an orator
and established his reputation as one of the most eloquent men
of his day. He was repeatedly interrupted by applause, and at
the conclusion of his speech he was greeted with round and
round and most heartily and warmly congratulated by his friends.
An anecdote of Willian P. Wheeler, the gentleman who suc-
ceeded Gen. Wilson as leader of the Cheshire county bar,
gives a glimpse of Wilson on the stump in 1840. Sometime dur-
ing the sixties Mr. Wheeler made a pleasure trip west and dur-
ing the trip took a steamer ride down the Ohio. A gentleman
familiar with the river began to describe objects of interest.
Learning Mr. Wheeler was from Keene he begged him to tell
him about Gen. Wilson. After satisfying his curiosity, Mr.
Wheeler said he would be glad to learn how a resident of Ohio
knew about Gen. Wilson enough to become an ardent admirer •
" It happened this way," replied the gentleman : " Business
obliged me to make a trip to Albany, N. Y., in 1840, during the
height of the presidential campaign. My business having been
accomplished, I prepared to return home. On arriving at the
railway station, I found my train did not leave for a little over
an hour and to while away the time I went outside and looked
about. In an opon space near at hand a stand for public
speaking had been erected and a few people had already gath-
ered about the stand. From a poster I learned that the elo-
quent Gen. James Wilson of Keene, N. H , was about to de-
liver an address. Hearing the approaching band, I walked up
to the stand, for I always made it a point to hear good speakers
whenever the opportunity offers. I confess when Gen. Wilson
was introduced I was greatly disappointed, for I could not be-
16 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
lieve that this dark, rugged looking giant could be a great
orator. When he began to speak my mind changed, for from
the moment that I head his voice I stood spell bound. A sec-
ond's pause enabled me to consult my watch, and to my in-
tense astonishment I found my train must have been gone sev-
eral minutes for I had been listening over an hour utterly obliv-
ious to the passage of time. With a sigh of relief I remem-
bered there was another train an hour later and I turned to lis-
ten to the fascinating speaker I had heard. I determined this
time to keep track of the time and not miss the next train.
Again I listened with breathless attention. Glancing at my
watch I discovered 1 had just twenty minutes left to catch my
train. Again had I been totally unconscious of the flight of
time. Although it was not over five minutes' walk to the sta-
tion I did not dare listen further, for if I did I knew I should
miss my train a second time. I resolutely faced about and
started for the station. Imagine my astonishment. When I
first faced the speaker, perhaps 200 people were present. Now
I was facing a great audience of from 8,000 to 10,000 people
(the papers said the larger number). I had been so completely
engrossed in listening that I had been utterly unconscious of
the addition to the assemblage. It took me over half an hour
to work my passage through that crowd and if Gen. Wilson had
not closed his speech I might never have got through it. I
again missed my train and was obliged to wait for a night train.
I shall always regret that I did not wait and hear the close of
that wonderful address. Every one who came in range of his
wonderful voice had been drawn to the speaker and held by
him just as a powerful magnet' attracts and holds iron filings."
Hon. John P. Hale said that his first opportunity to hear
Gen. Wilson speak was on April 22, 1861. The war had begun
and word was sent to all the neighboring towns that Gen. Wil-
son was in Keene on a visit and would address a mass meeting
in Central Square, Keene, on that day. Long before the hour the
Square was crowded. He was on hand early and got a good
position near the speaker's stand. The band and many citizens
GENERAL JAMES WILSON. 17
went to Wilson's house and escorted his carriage to the stand.
Describing the moment when the carriage arrived, McClin-
tock's tf History of New Hampshire " says :
" When the door was opened and the familiar form of the
old hero was seen mounting the rostrum, such tumultuous ap-
plause was heard as was never known in Keene before." Being
but a schoolboy I don't remember much of the address, but the
effect of his appeal for volunteers was electrical. When the
old man, so crippled by rheumatism that he could not walk
without a cane, took his seat, men started for the platform to
enlist from all parts of the audience. Some could not wait to
go around to the steps but climbed over the railings. Describ-
ing the closing of this speech, McClintock's " History of
New Hampshire " says : ■' It was a scene never to be forgot-
ten by those who were present; and it did much good, the im-
mediate effect being to add many names to the rolls of the
enlistments."
As illustrating the power of Wilson's eloquence, the following
incident will serve to show that it was a kind not dependent on
favoring conditions. When making the survey of Iowa, it was
found that many squatters had settled in certain sections of the
State, and these sections they declared should not be surveyed.
In due time Wilson with his outfit of surveyors arrived near the
settlement of the most turbulent gang of squatters in the State.
Needing supplies, he sent one of his men to the nearest trading
post to purchase what was wanted, with instructions to return
and get the camp team if he found he could get what he needed.
The supplies were purchased and paid for, but when the team
arrived delivery was refused, and the man returned and stated
that the post was full of roughs, who had learned in some way
that the supplies were for the United States surveyors. Seeing
the critical moment was at hand, Wilson went at once to the
store, accompanied by several of his men and his younger broth-
er Robert, (in after years Col. " Bob " of the Fourteenth New
Hampshire). The two Wilsons entered the store and asked
the proprietor if certain goods had been bought and paid for ;
18 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
if so, why he reiused to deliver them ? Then the roughs de-
clared they had taken possession of the store and until they
were dispossesssed no delivery could be made. Wilson turned to
his brother and said : " Bob, these gentlemen seem a little
diffident about going out alone. If you will escort them to the
door, I will see them safely out."
Robert Wilson, while not as tall as the General, was about as
heavy ; he was an expert boxer and wrestler, and almost a
match in strength for the General himself. He seized the near-
est man and flung him to the General, who pitched him head-
long out. Jn a couple of minutes a dozen men had been
spread-eagled over that section of Iowa. They scrambled to
their feet, scraped their eyes and noses clear of subsoil, freed
their mouths of grass roots, drew their weapons and made ready
for a fight to the dea:h.
Seeing " Bob " was in possession, Wilson coolly stepped out-
side and said, " Boys, I got a word to say." It would not seem
as if he had selected an especially favorable opportunity for
speech making. In five minutes these men, who thirsted for
his blood, were subjected ; in ten, they were wildly cheering
him ; in fifteen, the United States surveyors were their long
lost brothers. They rallied about Wilson, eager to shake his
hand. They insisted on loading his team with supplies, and
then escorted him in triumph to his camp. Wilson had won
their allegiance, not only to himself but to the government.
The next day the competition for the privilege of carrying the
chains and flags for the surveyors became strong. Their camp
was kept supplied with game, and the roughest neighborhood in
Iowa became a picnic giound for the camp of surveyors. Not
content with this they sent word ahead that anything they could
do was not too good for Wilson, and charged their friends to
see that he lacked nothing they could supply. By the magic
of his tongue Wilson had changed a band of lawless despera-
does into friends as loyal to his bidding as the tribesmen of
a Scottish chieftain.
The following sketch of General Wilson, written by Moses A.
GENERAL JAMES WILSON. 19
Cartland, describes him so fully and accurately, that I will give
it entire as it came from the pen of the g.fted author. It was
written many years ago by this personal friend of Gen. Wilson.
" Almost everybody in this state knows General Wilson
by the familiar, but not very elegant, cognomen, " Long
Jim." Still, there is more meaning and appropriateness in it
than a fastidious ear might he aware of ' Long,' he certainly
is — though not an Anak, nor stretched to the immeasurable
length of 'Long John ' of Chicago. And, to his credit, he is
one of those unsophisticated and unstarched men who may be
Jimmed without offending their delicacy or detracting from their
integiity. There are some such men who boast no royal pride,
but pass along, in republican simplicity, claiming the humblest
citizen as a brother, and saying to the highest, as Black Hawk
did to the President, 'lama man, and you are another.' ' Don't
thee and thou us,' said the pompous justices of England to the
plain, blunt Quaker, Fox. ' Use such familiarities to our ser-
vants, but not to magistrates,' said they. And a good deal of
that stiffening has crept down into the veins of these demo-
cratic times. The Quakers used to take Washington by the
hand, while President of the United States, and address him,
as Penn had the king before, simply as ' George.' The great
man seemed rather pleased with a greeting which bespoke the
the fraternizing affection of home, and often reciprocated it with
the like simplicity of a brother. Some little sprig of aristocracy,
better furnished with broadcloth than with brains, would have
resented a familiarity that made him but ' common clay.'
" But not to dwell on these things, it must be admitted that
Gen. Wilson is distinguished, in an eminent degree, for simple,
unostentatious habits in his intercourse, and unvarying courtesy
of demeanor. He probably feels that he is a man, and not an
ape. Not a mere buckram fop or dandy — one of those pre-
cious things, so numerous in sunny weather, that
' Present a body which, at most,
Is less substantial than a ghost .'
" Had Robert Burns been an orator instead of a poet, there
20 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
would have been a very striking resemblance between him and
Gen. Wilson. And there is reason for this ; for the latter is
of Scottish descent, and his veins are full of Scotch feelings
and fire, tempered with that earnest, Irish enthusiasm, which
he derives from one branch of his ancestral line. Those who
know anything of the noble hearted, strong-willed poet, will see
very strong points of resemblance between them. The same
wild scenes of nature, the same
' Land of the mountain and the flood.
Of dark brown heath and shaggy wood,'
first opened alike to their youthful eyes. Burns, in his boy-
hood, followed the plough, and pressed his wild, free feet to the
old Caledonian hills ; while the American boy bent to the same
rustic employment, and learned freedom like him in our own
beloved Scotland. The same free, generous, and impetuous
spirit that swelled in the bosom of one, now characterizes the
other. Alike in disdaining the folly of lordly life and the
1 rattling equipage ' of wealth and fashion, the same glorious
spirit of independence that Burns worshipped, as 'lord of the
lion heart and eagle eye,' is equally the idol of the New Hamp-
shire orator. If the music of the one fell like a transcendent
charm upon the Scottish ear, no less potent, in a different ca -
pacity, is the voice of the other to stir the pulse or win the
heart. The same martial fire, the same restless and indignant
hatred of tyranny, that burned in the Scotchman's veins, now
runs in the American's.
" Compare them physically, and the same resemblance is ap-
parent ; with an exception, however, for the eye of Burns was
the most distinctive feature of his face. Poetry lingered in its
radiance ; and when the bard felt the struggling of the mighty
nature within him, his eye is said to have burned and kindled
with an 'almost insufferable light.' In Gen. Wilson, the
same feature is often lighted up with terrible power. To a
stranger, Gen. Wilson would not appear the lion he actually is
when aroused and in the midst of one of his impassioned
strains of eloquence — as Charles Lamb has said of books —
GENERAL JAMES WILSON. 21
that is eloquence. He would then betaken for some hard-
faced ploughman, ungifted with that ' mighty magic' which puts
a tongue in everything that leads an assembly captive. I have
attended public meetings when he was to address the people,
and noted the curious inquiries and sage remarks of those who
had never before seen him, and knew nothing of his powers as
a speaker. Plainly attired, and in the most unstudied manner,
he would enter the house and sit in modest carelessness await-
ing the gathering of his audience. No stranger eye would be
fixed on him as the hero of the scene. ' Where is he ? ' would
be the inquiry. * There he is — that coarse looking man, bend-
ing forward, with the aspect of a long ' Vermont Jonathan/
would be the reply. ' That Gen. Wilson ? — why, he don't
look as though he could say anything. See, there, I guess your
phrenology is all knocked in the head now. He looks like an
old plough jogger.' Such would be the comments. But he
speaks — at first with the simplicity and courteous phraseology
that distinguishes the gallant man always. He stretches him-
self up — raises his stentorian voice as he warms with his sub-
ject — period upon period goes rolling out upon the audience,
and echoing back and up like ocean tones of the sea. The
orator seems laboring and dashing forward like one of those
' oak leviathans ' of the deep, crushing the haughty waves be-
neath its keel, and wrestling onward against the tempest. ' It is
then you begin to realize the awakening of that ' dormant thun-
der ' which you so little dreamed was sleeping in that awkward
form and unpromising aspect. You are borne onward by the
impetuous current, or stirred by some startling picture of polit-
ical folly or aggravated wrong, until it would seem as though
the old dead had been summoned back to rebuke the living.
" But in all this there is no ungenerous taunt — no flippant
blackguardism — no impeachment of his opponent's motives or
abilities, but an exhibition of the loftier and better feelings.
In this respect Gen. Wilson occupies a more elevated position
than most of the political orators of the day. He scorns the
tricks and slang of the demagogue. He never descends to them.
22 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
His language is chosen with even the nice taste of the scholar;
and while his periods oftentimes exhibit a peculiar beauty and
finish, they are full of energy and charmed with fire — 'as
lighting lurks in the drops of the summer clouds.' He never
caters to the vulgar appetite which riots in abusive epithet and
unmanly detraction. Nor does he ever stop to repel the base
attack and calumny so rife in partizan warfare. But he stands
up like the storm-defying pillar, that mocks alike the fury of the
tempest and the wave, and he bears his head aloft into the sun-
shine and bids them beat on."
The following is an extract from a speech by Gen. James
Wilson on the Slavery Question, February 16, 1849.
It has been said by some one, that ' man is the child of cir-
cumstance.' It is a sage remark, and true ; and to me it is not
surprising that gentlemen should entertain different opinions,
and should rise here in debate and express opposite views upon
the subject of slavery. I know, can feel, and realize, that my
own views and opinions are influenced much by the impressions
received in childhood ; and while 1 am conscious of that in my-
self, it is but just to infer that other men are influenced by the
circumstances by which they were surrounded du ring the recep-
tive period of early life. It excites no marvel in my mind that
gentlemen who have first seen the light of day in the South —
who have first opened their eyes to the realities of life under the
auspices of that institution — who wtre early taught to command
and thai it was their right to be obeyed — who had but to say
to a certain class of individuals around them, 'Come,' and they
would come ; ' Go/ and they would go. I can very well under-
stand how it is that gentlemen, accustomed from their child-
hood to command, being nurtured in this way up to the condi.
tion of manhood, should entertain entirely different opinions
from those which I, and those which have been brought up as I
have been, entertained. In the northern States of this Union, we
are taught from childhood to look upon labor as the condition
of life ; to think from the outset that we are born to labor.
The child is instructed and made to know that if he wants any-
GENERAL JAMES WILSON. 23
thing done within the compass of his own ability, he must do
it for himself. He is encouraged to effort, and compelled, if
need be, to make it. Labor becomes habit.
I have said, sir, that in the free labor States of this Union,
even the little children are required to labor according to their
intellectual ability and physical strength. Even from its cradle
it is put to work. It is aroused from its morning slumbers to
be greeted by the smiles of a kind mother, and is encouraged to
make the effort to do for itself what it may be able to do. It is
not, to be sure, furnished with the heavy tools, the drills and
hammers, picks and gads, of the miner, and sent to sink shafts
in trap rock of limestone, in search of copper ore ; it is not
furnished with a spade and windlass, rope and tub, and sent
away to sink its shaft in clay diggings, in search of lead mineral.
No, sir ; but its morning bath and wardrobe attended to, and
its breakfast finished, it has its working tools, consisting of
some simple books and carefully arranged in a little satchel,
wrought all over with pictures of birds, and butterflies, and
flowers, in gay colors, by the hand of a kind sister. Thus
equipped, it is sent away to the village school, to work — to
work. It begins to sink its shaft down into its own intellect ;
it sinks on and on, deeper and deeper. Encouraged by its suc-
cess, it perseveres, until, by and by, it brings up to view, and for
the use of mankind, treasures infinitely more valuable than the
gold from the mines of Mexico, or Peru, or California — gems
more brilliant than ever sparkled upon the brow of queen, or
blazed in the hall of royalty.
I undertake to say that, for the last fifty years of the history
of this goverment, this great slavery question has been the
very center and focus of all our political action : the focal point
around which every great national interest has revolved.
I might illustrate by comparison with the movements of
the planets in their orbits around the natural sun. The figure
of speech would not be quite accurate and appropriate, because
when we speak of the natural sun, we convey to the mind the
idea of light and heat, warmth and life-giving energy through-
-4 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
out the sphere of its influence ; while that central point of our
political action is as black and dark as Egyptian darkness ; as
cold and heartless, and unsympathizing as the icebergs that
roll in the Arctic ocean.
There was then, a certain, distinct, and definite tract of
country, to which the Constitution of the United States was to
apply. And now let me ask any member of the committee to
take the journal of that convention in his hand, and say whether
he could believe that the men of that convention, who were
brought together for the purpose of framing a Constitution for
the United States, did, in fact, form an instrument with all the
properties of a monstrous gum elastic overshoe inverted, the
toe of which could be drawn on over the north pole, the heel
hitched down over some tall mountain near the Isthmus of
Darien ? The very idea is too preposterous to be entertained
for a moment by any sensible man of fair, impartial mind.
I desire to acquit myself, that my own conscience will not
upbraid me, and that, when I shall pass away, no reproach shall
fall on me, or my children after me, for my acts here on this
momentous question. I have, sir, an only son, now a little fel-
low, whom some of this committe may have seen here. Think
you, that when I am gone, and he shall grow up to manhood,
and shall come forward to act his part among the citizen* of
the country, I will leave it to be cast in his teeth, as a reproach,
that his father voted to send slavery into those territories ? No ;
oh, no ; I look reverently up to the Father of us all, and fer-
vently implore of Him to spare that child that reproach. May
God forbid it.
It shall not be in the power of any man to shake a men-
acing finger at me, and look me in the face with a gibe of con-
GENERAL JAMES WILSON. 25
tempt, and say to me in the insulting language of a former rep-
resentative from Virginia (Mr. Randolph), ' we have conquered
you and we will conquer you again ; we have not conquered
you by the black slaves of the South, but by the white slaves of
the North.' No, sir ; that remark shall never apply to me.
Gentlemen need not talk to me, or attempt to frighten me, by
threats of the dissolution of the Union. Sir, I do not permit
myself to talk or even think about the dissolution of the Union ;
very few northern men do. We all look upon such a thing as
impossible. But, sir, if the alternative should be presented to
me of the extension of slavery or the dissolution of the Union,
I would say rather then extend slavery, let the Union, aye,
the Universe itself, be disssolved. Never, never will I raise
my hand or my voice to give a vote by which slavery can or
may be extended. As God is my Judge, I cannot, I will not
be moved from the purpose I have now announced.
Mr. Chairman, I have but imperfecty accomplished the duty
I had assigned myself on this momentous question. But I am
admonished that the pendulum of the clock is upon the last
vibration of the hour allotted to me. I have made up the rec-
ord of this day's work of my life imperfectly I know. But I am
willing it should be unrolled and read by the whole people
whom I have the honor to represent; I am willing it should be
read by the people of this great country ; above all, I am will-
ing it should be unrolled and read by the light of Eternity, in
the presence of the assembled universe, and to abide the de-
cree of the Omnipotent Judge upon the record
It is impossible to give an adequate description of the elo-
quence of this distinguished man. He must have been seen
and heard to be appreciated. His great oratorical efforts were
made many years ago. The men who were so charmed and cap-
tivated by his eloquence have passed away. A few still remain ;
they are scattered and inaccessible. It is only left for us to
26
MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
glean what we can from a few printed speeches that have been
preserved, ar.d to brief biographical sketches and to anecdotes
and traditions that have been handed down from a former gener-
ation. To these I have frequently referred and quoted in this
paper. I am conscious that my work has been poorly done.
If I have contributed in any manner to throw light on the char-
acter and services of this honored and idolized son of New
Hampshire I am satisfied.
The Old Bridge - Street Pound.
A PAPER BY ORRIN H. LEAVITT, READ BEFORE THE MANCHES-
TER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION, SEPTEMBER 1 8, I90I.
Mr. President and Gentlemen : Having been in the city
but few years comparatively, and having taken no part in the
municipal or business affairs, I feel a little out of place in com-
ing before the Manchester Historic Association to discuss mat-
ters relating to the early history of localities with which nearly
all of you are better acquainted than I am. But my idea is that
the object of an organization of this kind should be to preserve
material proofs as well as written records of former methods
where it is possible to do so, and having expressed at various
times my opinion that the old pound should be preserved as it
is, if not restored to its original form, I have been invited to
prepare a paper on the subject for this meeting, and I hope I
shall be pardoned for making a slight digression from my sub-
ject for the sake of explaining, or, perhaps, excusing my inter-
est in the matter.
Perhaps my habit of reading puzzle pictures to get views
of things which do not appear on the surface, has got me in the
way of looking crosswise at some matters which were not in-
tended for such inspection, but it seems to me that the policy,
as far any polcy is shown in the methods employed about
this city, is to work largely for the present with little regard to
the future and less respect for the past.
To illustrate this point I will name four boiling springs in
the northern part of the city, which originally supplied many
families each with pure, cold water, but have been covered by
J8 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
the city dumps during the process of making streets. One of
these springs is in the gulley on the west side of Elm street and
north of Penacook ; one is near the crossing of Chestnut and
Sagamore streets ; one, just east east of Pine, is now under the
fill made for Sagamore street, and worst of all, the spring which
supplied the camping ground when the soldiers were quartered
at the north end during the early days of the civil war, and later,
was included in the old fair ground and had a half hogshead
set in it which was always full, is now under the dump of Lib-
erty street. This condition being found in such a limited local-
ity would indicate that many more with which I was not familiar
have gone the same way. Any of these could have been per-
petuated by inserting pipes to biing the water to the surface,
and without interfering with the construction of the streets or
other desirable changes. But they are gone, and the people
are supplied with water taken from the muddiest portion of
Massabesic, while we have a Board of Health to look after the
sanitary affairs ; and even the peslhouse is to be supplied with
" city water " to avoid too much of a change when patients are
carried there.
Another matter on which I have not recovered from a desire
to express myself is the filling of the ponds on the commons.
When I came here there was a pond on Merrimack common,
and one Hanover common, both walled with split stone, so that
children or dogs which got in must be helped out or drown.
With all that water in sight no dog or even bird could get a drink.
It was finally decided that the water was impure and endang-
ered public health by its emanations, and they were filled up.
My belief was and still is that if the walls had been removed
and sloping gravel banks substituted, so that children could
wade, dogs swim and birds drink ; silt basins put at the inlet so
that sediment would settle where it could be dipped out ; pond
lillics planted to make use of the undesirable elements in water,
the water could have been kept as pure as our city supply is
under present conditions, and aged people and invalids could
have been refreshed by the ever restful spectacle of sparkling
THE OLD BRIDGE- STREET POUND. 29
waves in contrast with the dust of the streets and clatter of
pavements. But now, with Mile brook running unused under
the whole length of these commons, we are buying water every
winter to make skating ponds which kill the grass so it is late in
the spring or summer before the crop of annual weeds covers
the reeking mud with the kindly mantle of green.
It was by observing these transactions that I was led, years
ago, to speak for the preservation of the relic of former cus-
toms which still remains in the ruin of the old " town pound."
As it is customary for amateur writers or lecturers, when
calied upon to treat any agricultural subject, to go back and
tell when and where the plant was discovered, how it became
distributed, how it has been improved and what the average
yield is per acre, I may be pardoned for briefly referring to the
history and use of the institution known in former times as the
" town pound."
In the days of the pioneers, when clearings were scattered
and only the cultivated fields were fenced, cattle were turned
into the forests to get their living on wild grass and browse,
so it often happened that they strayed too far and found their
way into poorly protected fields of some distant neighbor. It
is related that people in Massachusetts were once in the habit
of driving cattle up into this section to get their living as best
they could through the summer, and they became very annoy-
ing to the scattered farmers among whom they foraged. Peo-
ple at that primitive age had not evolved the idea of sending
tramps along to the next town to find new victims, so they con-
ceived the plan of constructing enclosures where stray animals
could be confined and cared for until the owner called for them
and paid for the food and trouble. This was a protection to
the farmers and a kindness to owners of stock who rather pay a
reasonable sum for such care than wander aimlessly in the wild
forest in search of their animals which might be doing great
injury to some growing crop.
This method of disposing of stray animals was continued
long after every man who owned stock was supposed to have a
30 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
pasture fenced for its use. But the idea that the highway was
public property still led some men to think that they were not
trespassing on the rights of others by turning their cows through
the barnyard bars and dogging them down the road, and when
this practice became unbearable to the neighbors whose expost
ulations failed to bring reform, the pound was resorted to as a
lesson in law. It has also been used as an instrument of re-
venge. A man would find an animal belonging to some neigh-
bor with whom he was not on friendly terms browsing in his
field or running in the road, and would drive the animal to the
pound if it was several miles farther away than the home of the
owner. I have known a man to lead a horse two miles out of
his way to get to the pound without going past the house of the
owner, when the pound was four miles away and the men lived
less than half a mile apart.
A pound-keeper was among the officers annually elected by
the town, and his duty was to supply impounded animals with
food and water, advertise them if not called for within a cer-
tain time, and get his pay from the owner of the stock when it
was taken away. Another officer closely connected with the
pound keeper was the '• field driver," and his duty, and some-
times privilege, was to drive to pound animals found trespass-
ing or in anyway troubling the settlers. As this was a minor posi
tion with little work and no pay, it was unually filled by nomi
nation, and the young men in town who had been married since
the last election were honored with this mark of the respect and
confidence of their fellow citizens, sometimes twenty or more
being chosen at a single meeting.
In my native town, in Maine, an article which appeared in
the warrant, regularly for many years, was: " To see if the
town will allow loose cattle to run at large all or any part of the
year." This was usually passed over without action, and at last
some one discovered and announced that men were not obliged
to fence their fields, and that when cattle were turned into the
highway, without a keeper, they were, in effect, turned into
THE OLD BRIDGE - STREET POUND. 31
their neighbor's cornfield, and that the town had no authority
to legalize such action. Soon after this the field-drivers were
discontinued, and it was voted that every barnyard in town
should be a pound and every man who had a barnyard was
appointed pound keeper and authorized to confine stray animals
and collect pay for the same from their owners. This ended
the pound business in that town.
By a somewhat hurried examination of the two histories of
Manchester (Potter's and Clarke's), I find that they agree on
one point: that in 1800 the town voted to build a pound at the
south end of the church at the Center. Clarke's says this was
used till 1830, but says nothing about its successor as being
located or built. Speaking of the Stevens farm, which is a
part of what is now the city farm, it says : " On the old farm
is an unused pesthouse and a pound." And here arises a
question which I have been unable to solve, for it continues :
" A new penthouse was built of brick in 1874 upon the old farm
near the Mammoth road." Where is or was that brick pest-
house ?
Potter's history relates that the pound to be built in 1800 at
the south end of the church, was to be seven feet high, with
square posts, and rails of pine or cedar heart wood.
While both agree that this pound served until 1830, Potter's
speaks of the vote to build another, under the transactions of
1840, so there are ten years that we do not know whether a
pound was maintained or not.
The ruins of the structure now under consideration are on
land owned by the city and in what is a part of Derryfield Park,
so there would be no outlay for purchasing the site, it being in
the park and near the road which is most used in going to the
Weston Observatory. It is in a prominent place and would be
an object of interest to visitors who would seek information as
to its origin and use, and, standing on that spot, with the clat-
ter of electric cars and the bustle of a city all about them,
could realize more fully than in any other way that here, where
they see all these modern conveniences and signs of activity
32 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
under electric lights the supply for which is brought on a simple
wire, was once a wilderness, and in the last century the farmers
worked in their fields with the flint lock musket leaning against
a stump, for protection rather than pleasure, and cattle roamed
at large and took their chances among the wild and savage
beasts. That right here, on this spot, the scenes of frontier
life have been enacted in real earnest and have passed into
the history which we read without fully realizing that it is more
authentic than the tales of fiction.
For these reasons and under existing conditions I hold that
it would be wise and proper for this association to take some
steps to induce the city to perpetuate this relic* and restore or
permit the association to restore as far the remaining material
will allow, the walls which have fallen, so as to show a design of
something more than a pile of rocks, and lead to questions and
answers which will keep alive the knowledge that we still have
one link which connects us with the dim and distant past.
The people of the present seem to be seeking to make their
own mark, and change everything that passes through their
hands to make it conform with the present idea of symmetry or
beauty, or style which too often lacks both of the other features
named. We expend large sums in removing rocks and exter-
minating native shrubs, and as much more constructing " rock-
work " and planting foreign shrubs which would disgrace any
native hedgerow, and, after all this outlay to destroy natural
objects for the sake of imitating them, the imitation is a failure
and the change is no improvement.
Therefore let us claim this one spot and save it from the
present epidemic of change and destruction. Let the willows
and wild cherry trees grow inside if they will; but have the
outer walls exposed to view to show that there was system in
the " madness " which preserved it.
Sketch of Dunbarton, N. H,
BY ELLA MILLS.
Dunbarton is a town "set upon a hill which cannot be hid."
The highest point of land is on the farm of Benjamin Lord,
north of the Center, and is 779 feet above the sea level. From that
spot, and from many other places nearly as high, the views of
hills and mountains are beautiful and grand beyond description.
The twin Uncanoonucs are near neighbors on the south,
Monadnock, farther off on the south-west, and Kearsarge twenty
miles to the north west. On the northern horizon are seen
Mount Washington and other peaks of the White Mountains.
The longest hill in town is the mile-long Mills hill, and mid-
way on its slope live descendants of Thomas Mills, one of the
first settlers. Among other hills are Duncanowett, Hammond,
Tenney, Grapevine, Harris, Legache, and Prospect Hills.
No rivers run through the town, but there are numerous
brooks where trout fishing is pursued with more or less success.
No body of water is large enough to be called a lake, but
Gorham Pond is a beautiful sheet of water and on its banks
picnics are held. Stark's and Kimball's Ponds have furnished
water power for mills, the latter, owned by Willie F. Paige,
is still in use. Long Pond, in the south part of the town, was
the scene of a tragedy in 1879, when Moses Merrill, an officer
at the State Industrial School, Manchester, was drowned in an
ineffectual attempt to save an inmate of that institution.
One portion of the south part of the town is called Skeeter-
boro, another Mountalona, so named by James Rogers, one of
the first settlers, from the place in Ireland from whence he
34 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
came. 1 East of the Center is Guinea, so called because some
negroes once lived there. The village of North Dunbarton is
also called Page's Corner ; and not far away to the eastward is
a hill known as Onestack, because one large stack of hay stood
there for many years. A brook bears the same name.
Those who know Dunbarton only in the present can hardly
realize that 1450 people ever lived there at one time, but that
was the census in 1820. The first census, taken 1767, was
271. In 1840 it was 1067 ; in 1890, only 523. The last census
gave about 575.
The first settlement was made in 1740 2 by James Rogers and
Joseph Putney on the land known as the " Great Meadows,"
now owned by James M. Bailey. They were driven away by
the Indians for a time. A stone now marks the spot where
-stood the only apple tree spared by the Indians. Probably the
first boy born in town belonged to one of these families. James
Rogers was shot by Ebenezer Ayer, who mistook him in the dark
for a bear, as he wore a bearskin coat. He was the father of
Major Robert Rogers, celebrated as the leader of the rauger
corps of the French and Indian wars.
About 175 1 William Stinson, John Hogg, and Thomas Mills
settled in the west part of the town. Sarah, daughter of Thom-
as Mills, was the first girl born in town. Her birthplace was a
log cabin on the farm now owned by John C. and George F.
Mills.
For fourteen years the town was called Starkstown in honor
of Archibald Stark, one of the first land owners (though not a
resident), and father of General John Stark. In 1765 the
town was incorporated, and was named, with a slight change,
1. The enrly wi iters generally credited Jnmes Uppers with lieingof Scotch.
Irish nativity, owing to the fact 1 hat he was confused with another person of the
same name who livid in Londonderry. (Sw Drummoml's "Junes Hovers of .
Dunbarton and James Rogers of Londonderry.") The Dnnharton Hover* was un-
douhiedly of English irth, in winch case, the term " M"linttilona," or " .Monte-
lonv, n must have had some other derivation than that commonly ascribed to it.
— Editor.
2. Probably 1739 and the Rogers fimllyat least cime from Massachusetts.
T v iU wii.n tin" I'll tn.ty or i'udney family seem to have been located in the winter of
ISid 1840. — EuiTOH.
SKETCH OF DUNBARTON, N, H. 35
for Dumbarton 3 in Scotland near which place Stark and other
emigrants had lived.
Dunbarton was one of the towns taken from Hillsborough
County to form the County of Merrimack. Its centennial was
duly celebrated and attended by a vast concourse of invited
guests and towns people. A report of its proceedings was com-
piled by Rev. Sylvanus Hayward. Though small in area and
population, Dunbarton occupies a large place in the hearts of
its sons and daughters. However dear our adopted homes may
become, we still feel that "whatever skies above us rise the
hills, the hills are home." 11.63322
At the centennial Rev. George A. Putnam paid a glowing
tribute to his native town, saying : " Dunbarton is one of the
most intelligent and best educated communities in New Eng.
land. I think it will be hard to find another place where, in
proportion to its population, so many young men have been
liberally educated and have entered some of the learned pro-
fessions, where so many young men and women have become
first class teachers of common schools. My own observation
has been altogether in favor of Dunbarton in this particular.
And it is clear as any historic fact the superior education of
Dunbarton's children has been largely due to her religious insti-
tutions and Christian teachers."
That the town is also honored by her neighbors is shown by
the following instances : Many years ago it was said that a
Dartmouth student from an adjoining town, when asked from
what town he came, answered : " From the town next to Dun-
barton." Recently the chairman of the school board in Goffs-
town, in his annual report, compared the town favorably to
Dunbarton with regard to the number of college graduates.
Very soon after the permanent settlement of the town, a
committe was appointed to build a meeting-house at Dunbar-
ton Center. It was finished previous to 1767, and stood in the
middle of the common. Before that time it is related that
3. From Dimibritlon, the ancient name given to a fort raised by the Brittons on
the north bank of ihe Clyde in early times. - Editor.
36 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
" Mr. McGregor preached in the open air, on the spot now con-
secrated as the resting place of the dead." This first building
was a low, frame structure, without pews, with seats of rough
planks resting on chestnut logs, and a pulpit constructed of
rough boards. It was replaced in about twenty years by the
building now known as the Town House. This was used only
for political purposes after the erection of the third church on
the west side of the highway.
About thirty years ago the interior of the old building was
greatly changed, the upper part being made into a hall while
the square pews were removed from the lower part, only the
high pulpit remaining. A selectmen's room was finished in one
corner, and in 1892, a room for the public library. The outside
remains practically unchanged.
The Rocky Hill Church at Amesbury, Mass., much like this
at Dunbarton, is still used in summer only. There is no way of
warming it, and people of the present day would not endure
the hardships their ancestors bore without a murmur. The
third church was built in 1836 on the site of a dwelling house
owned by William Stark; in 1884 it was remodelled, the pews
modernized and the ceiling frescoed.
The vestry formerly stood on the opposite of the common
and contained two rooms; prayer meetings were held in the
lower room, while up stairs was the only hall in town. There
were held the singing schools, and the lyceum of long ago ; also
several fall terms of high schools ; among the teachers were
Mark Bailey, VVilliam E. Bunten, and Henry M. Putney. More
than twenty-five years ago the vestry was removed to its present
location near the church and made more convenient and attractive.
For about nineteen years the church had no settled pastor.
In 1789 Walter Harris was called, and was ordained August 26.
He preached more than forty years. Every man in town was re-
quired to contribute to his support for a time until some of the
other religious societies rebelled. The " History of Dunbarton "
says : "Dr. Harris appropriated the proprietors' grant for the
SKETCH OF DUNBARTON, N. H. 37
first settled minister, and located himself on the ministerial lot.
He also, by a vote of the town, obtained the use of the parson-
age lot, with an addition of seventy pounds a year, one-half to
be paid in cash, the other in corn and rye." His farm was
in a beautiful location ^outh of the center, and was afterwards
owned for many years by the late Deacon John Paige ; it is
now the propery of his son, Lewis Paige.
In respect to his farm, buildings, fences, Dr. Harris was a
model for the town. Two men once working for him were try-
ing to move a heavy log. He told them how to manage accord-
ing to philosophy ; finally one said : " Well, Dr. Harris, if you
and your philosophy will take hold of that end of the log while
Jim and I take this end, I think we can move it."
Dr. Harris was sometimes called the " Broad axe and sledge-
hammer of the New Hampshire ministry." He was a man of
more than ordinary intellectual endowments, and graduated
from Dartmouth College with high honors. Prof. Charles G.
Burnham said in his address at the Centennial : " The influ-
ence of the life and preaching of Dr. Harris is manifest today
in every department of your material prosperity, as well as upon
the moral and religious character of the people, and will be for
generations to come."
Dr. Harris was dismissed July 7, 1830, and died December
25, 1843. His successor, Rev. John M. Putnam, was installed
the day Dr. Harris was dismissed ; both were remarkable ex-
temporaneous speakers. Mr. Putnam was called one of the
best platform speakers in his profession in the State.
At the close of his pastorate he went to reside with his son at
Yarmouth, Maine ; he died in Elyria, Ohio, in 187 1. He was
dismissed the day his successor, Sylvanus Hayward, was or-
dained. Thus for more than 77 years the church was not for
one day without a settled pastor. Mr. Hayward was born in
Gilsum, N. H., and has written a history of his native town ;
he was dismissed April, 1866. His successors were Revs.
George I. Bard, William E. Spear, who is now a lawyer in
38 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
Boston, and at present Secretary of the Spanish War Claim
Commission, James Wells now deceased. Tilton C. H. Bou-
ton, grandson of Rev. Dr. Nathanitl Bouton, for many years
pastor of the North Church, Concord, N. H., George Sterling,
Avery K. Gleason, and William A. Bushee. During Mr.
Bouton's pastorate a parsonage was built in the north part of
the village on land given by Deacon Daniel H. Barker.
The first deacons were chosen in 1790, and were James
Clement and Edward Russell. Others were Samuel Burnham,
David Alexander, John Church, Matthew S. McCurdy, John
Wilson, John Mills, Samuel Burnham (a namesake of the first
of the name), who with Daniel H. Parker served for many
years. They were succeeded by Frederic L. Ireland and
Frank C. Woodbury, the present incumbents.
Church discipline was very strict in ye olden time. What
would the people of the present day think of being called to
account for such a small matter as this? "A complaint was pre-
sented to the church by one brother against another for un-
Christian-like behavior in suffering himself 10 be carried in a
light and vain manner upon a man's shoulders to the length of
a quarter of a mile. The church accepted the complaint, and
summoned the brother before it. He appeared, confessed his
fault and was pardoned."
Deacon McCurdy was noted for his strictness in keeping the
Sabbath. No food could be cooked in the house on that
day, and no work done at the barn except milking and feeding
the stock. He once, however, mistook the day of the week,
and took a grist to mill on Sunday, while his wife began the
the Saturday's baking. On arriving at the mill, he, of course,
found it closed, and on going to the miller's house, he learned
his mistake. He was so shockeJ that he would not leave his
grist, but carried it back home.
The Baptist Church was organized in Mountalona in 1828.
The first meeting house was built by Aaron Elliot, and Isaac
Westcott was the first pastor. In the Spring of 1847 meetings
were held at the Center; Rev. John W. Poland (since fa-
SKETCH OF DUNBARTON, N. H. 39
mous as the maker of " White Pine Compound ") preached dur-
ing that season. The nest year a church was built.
The pastors were Revs. H. D. Hodges (who, with Rev.
John Putnam, compiled a grammar), Samuel Cook, Horace
Eaton, Jesse M. Coburn, Washington Coburn, John Peacock
(as a supply), Stephen Pillsbury, Timothy B Eastman, Elias
Whittemore, Samuel Woodbury, Adoniram J Hopkins, Dr.
Lucien Hayden, J. J. Peck, Charles Willand, and the present in-
cumbent, S. H. Buffam. This list may not be exactly correct.
At intervals no services have been held. Nathaniel Wheeler,
John O. Merriil and John Paige were deacons for many years.
In 1899 the house was painted and otherwise improved.
The old house at Mountalona was used at times by the Bap-
tists. Methodist services were also held there. It was burned
about seventeen years ago.
A Universalist society was formed in 1830 by Nathan Gutter-
son, Joshua F. Hoyt, Silas Burnham, Alexander Gilchrist
and others and services were held in the old Congrega-
tional Church. Rev. Nathan R. Wright preached here for four
years and lived in a house near the late John C. Ray's which
was burned about 30 years ago. It was afterwards known as the
Hope house from Samuel B Hope, one of the owners. Mr. Wright
was the father of Hon. Carroll D. Wright who was born in 1840.
The family removed from town when he was three years of age.
In 1864 or 1865 Episcopal Church services were held by
clergymen from St. Paul's School in school houses in the west
part of the town, afterwards in the Hope house. In the summer
of 1866 the corner stone of the church was laid on land given by
the Misses Stark. The money to build the church was collected
by their grand neice, Miss Mary Stark, a devoted churchwornan,
who died in 1881. The church is a lasting memorial of her. It
is a beautiful building with a seating capacity of 110. The
fine chancel window was giy/en by the father of the Rector of
St. Paul's School. The church was consecrated in 1868, and
named the Church of St John the Evangelist. For ab:>ut four-
teen years the services were in charge of Rev. Joseph H. Coit,
40 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
the present rector of St. Paul's School. He was succeeded by
Rev. Edward M. Parker, a master of the school, who with the
assistance of Mr. William VV. Flint, lay preacher, holds services
in Dumbarton and Eist Weare. In 1890 the church was taken
down and re-erected in North Dunbarton on land given by
David Sargent south of the school-house, in front of a beautiful
pine grove. A service of re dedication was held december 15,
1890. Frank B. Mills was organist and leader of the singing
with only a short interval until his removal from town in 1895.
The organist at the present time is Miss Sara E. Perkins.
After the removal of the church, a brass tablet in memory of
the Misses Harriet and Charlotte Stark was placed therein by
Rev. Joseph H. Coit.
Dunbarton has had many fine musicians within her borders.
Col. Samuel B. Hammond led the singing in the Congregational
Church for a long term of years, resigning in 1875. The choir
was formerly large and numbered among its members Mrs.
Elizabeth (Whipple) Brown, her daughter, Mrs. Agnes French,
0*ve Caldwell, now Mrs. Morrill of Minnesota, the daughters
of the late Deacon Parker, Mrs. Harris Wilson, Nathaniel T.
Safford, William S. Twiss, and others.
Before the advent of the cabinet organ instrumental music
was furnished by a double bass viol played by Harris Wilson,
a single bass-viol played by Eben Kimball, a melodeon played
by Andrew Twiss, and one or two violins. When the church
was remodeled the organ and choir were removed from the gal-
lery to a place beside the pulpit. Mrs. Mary (Wilson) Bunten
is now organist. For several years a quartette, consisting
of William S. Twiss, Frank B. Mills, Horace Caldwell, and
Frederic L. Ireland sang most acceptably on many occasions,
especially furnishing appropriate music at funerals, until the
removal from town of Mr. Twiss in 18S4. At various times
signing schools were taught by Eben Kimball, Joseph C. Cram
of Deerfield, " Uncle Ben " Davis of Concord, and at Page's
Corner, by Frank B. Mills.
The first School houses in town were few and far between,
SKETCH OF DUNBARTON, N. H. 41
with no free transportation as practiced at the present time.
Hon. Albert S. Batchellor, of Littleton, in searching the col-
umns of a file of old newspapers recently, came across the fol-
lowing which will be of interest to Dumbarton people :
" Dunbarton May ye 15, 1787.
We the subscribers Promise to pay to Mrs. Sarah Ayers
Young three shillings per week for five Months to Teach school
seven or Eight Hours Each Day Except Sunday & Saturday
half a day, to be paid in Butter at half Pifterreen per lb. flax
the same or Rie at 4 shillings, Corn at 3s. Each. Persons to
pay their Proportion to what scollers they sign for Witness Our
Hands. Thomas Hannette 2 Scollers Thomas Husfe 1 Jame-
son Calley 2 Andrew fofter 1 John Bunton 3 John Fulton 2 "
Before 1805 Dumbarton had three school districts. The first
house was at the Center. Rev. Abraham W. Burnham, of
Rindge, in response to the toast, "Our Early Inhabitants," at
the Centennial, said : " My brother Samuel, when so young
that my mother was actually afraid the bears would catch him,
walked two miles to school." This same boy was the first col-
lege graduate from town, in the class of 1795. Robert Hogg,
called Master Hogg, was the first male teacher, and Sarah
Clement the first female teacher.
Another teacher of the long ago was Master John Fulton,
who lived on the farm now owned by John W. Farrar. In
those days pupils often tried to secure a holiday by (t barring
out " the teacher on New Year's Day. More than once
Master John Fulton found himself in this situation. On one
occasion he went to one of the neighbors where he borrowed a
tall white hat and a long white coat with several capes.
Thus disguised he mounted a white horse and rode rapidly to
the school house. The unsuspecting pupils rushed to the
door, when, quick as thought, Master Fulton sprang from the
horse, entered the school house and called the school to order.
At another time, while teaching in a private house in Bow, find-
ing himself " barred out," he entered a chamber window by
a ladder, removed some loose boards from the floor (the
house being unfinished) and descended among his astonished
42 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
pupils. Dr. Harris regularly visited the schools, and catechised
the children ; he prepared many young men for college and
directed the theological studies of those fitting for the ministry.
Many clergymen of the town served on the school committee.
Districts increased in number till there were eleven. In 1867 the
town system was adopted, and the number of schools reduced
to four or five. Notwithstanding the short terms, the long dis-
tances, and lack of text-books (now provided by the town), Dun-
barton has produced many fine scholars, and has provided
a large number of teachers for her own and other schools.
I think no family has furnished as many educated members
as the Burnhams. A short time prior to 1775 Deacon Samuel
Burnham came from Essex, Mass., to the south part of Dunbar-
ton. Of his thirteen children, four sons graduated at Dartmouth
College. In 1865 fourteen of his grand and great grand child-
ren were college graduates. Not all of them lived in Dunbar-
ton, but Samuel's son, Bradford, and most of his children lived
here. Henry Larcom, son of Bradford, was a successful teach-
er and land surveyor ; he represented the town in the Legisla-
ture and was also State Senator. The last years of his life
were passed in Manchester where he died in 1893. His son,
Henry Eben, is a lawyer in Manchester, and was for a time
Judge of Probate. He was born November 8, 1844, in the Dr.
Harris house, and is an honored son of Dunbarton. He was
elected United States Senator by the Legislature of 1901, for
the term of six years and succeeded Senator William E. Chandler.
Hannah, eldest daughter of Bradford Burnham, married
Samuel Burnham from Essex, Mass ; she died in November,
1901. Her two daughters were teachers for many years ; the
younger, Annie M., taught in Illinois and Oregon until recently.
Two sons were college graduates, Josiah, at Amherst iniS67;
William H., at Harvard in 1882. The latter is instructor in
Clark University, Worcester, and a writer and lecturer of great
ability. A daughter of his brother, Samuel G. Burnham of
St. Louis, graduated from Washington University with high
honors, ranking second in a class of eighty-two.
SKETCH OF DUNBARTON, N. H. 43
Three sons of Henry Putney were students at Dartmouth
College, though the second son, Frank, did not graduate,
leaving college to enter the army in 1861.
Thirty or more of the sons of Dunbarton graduated at Dart-
mouth College, while ten or twelve others took a partial course.
John Gould, Jr., and Abel K. Wilson, died at college, Three
graduated at Wabash College, Indiana, two at Union College,
Schenectady, N. Y., and one each at Yale, Harvard, and Am-
herst Colleges, and Brown University. It is said that at one
time there were more students from Dunbarton in Dartmouth
College than from any other town in the State.
There have been several graduates from Normal Schools,
Ralph Ireland and Ethel Jameson from the school at Bridge-
water, Mass. The former is now teaching in Gloucester, Mass.,
and the latter in Boston, Mass. Ella and Leannette L. Mills
(the latter the daughter of Leroy R. Mills), graduated from the
school at Salem, Mass. Lydia Marshall, now holding a gov-
ernment position in Washington, D. C, Mary Caldwell (now
Mrs. Aaron C. Barnard), and Lizzie Bunten (now Mrs. James
P. Tuttle, of Manchester), took a partial or whole course at the
school at Plymouth, N. H. Louise Parker and Mary A. Stin-
son graduated at Kimball Academy, Meriden, N. H. Many
others have been students at McCollom Institute, Mount Ver-
non, Pembroke, and other academies, and several have taken
the course at the Concord High School. Among the teachers of
the long ago may be named Antoinette Putnam, Lizzie and Ann
Burnham, Jane Stinson, Nancy Stinson, Sarah and Marianne
Parker, and Susan and Margaret Holmes. The list is too long
for further mention.
Among college graduates who made teaching their life work
were William Parker, who died in Winchester, Illinois, in 1865 »
Caleb Mills, who was connected with Wabash College, Indiana,
from 1833 until his death in 1879. He was greatly interested
in the cause of education, and was known as the father of pub-
lic schools in Indiana ; Joseph Gibson Hoyt, who was called
the most brilliant son Dunbarton ever educated ; he taught sev-
44 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
eral years in Phillips Academy, Exeter, and was Chancellor of
Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, taking charge Feb-
ruary 4, 1859 ; inaugurated October 4, 1859 ; died November 26,
1862 ; Charles G. Burnham, orator at the Centennial, in 1865,
who died in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1866 ; Mark Bailey, who
has taught elocution at Yale since 1855, besides spending some
weeks of each year in former times at Dartmouth, Princeton, and
other places. Samuel Burnham, the first graduate, should have
been mentioned earlier. He was principal of tht academy at
Derry for many years ; William E. Bunten taught in Atkinson,
N. H., Marblehead, Mass., and in New York, where he died in
1897 ; Matthew S. McCurdy, grandson and namesake of Dea-
con McCurdy, is instructor at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass.
Although not a college student, John, brother of Thomas and
James F. Mills, spent many years in teaching in Ohio and West
Virginia; he died in 1879. Among those who have been both
teachers and journalists are Amos Hadley of Concord, Henry
M. Putney, now on the editorial staff of the Manchester Daily
and Weekly Mirror \ William A. (brother of Henry M.) who
died some years ago in Fairmount, Nebraska ; and John B.
Mills, now at Grand Rapids, Michigan. George H. Twiss, of
Columbus, Ohio, has been a teacher, superintendent of schools,
and proprietor of a bookstore.
Of the native clergymen, Leonard S. Parker is probably the
oldest now living. He has held several pastorates, and is now
assistant pastor of the Shepard Memorial Church, Cambridge,
Mass. One of the early college graduates was Isaac Garvin,
son of Sam Garvin, whose name was a by word among his
neighbors ; " as shiftless as Sam Garvin " was a common say-
ing. Isaac obtained his education under difficulties which
would have discouraged most men, and at first even Dr. Harris
thinking it not worth wihle to help him. He probably studied
divinity with Dr. Harris, and was ordained in the Congrega-
tional Church, but late in life took orders in the Episcopal
Church in New York. There were two Rev. Abraham Burn-
hams, uncle and nephew, and Rev. Amos W. Burnham, whose
SKETCH OF DUNBARTON, N. H. 45
only pastorate was Rindge where he preached forty-six years.
Thomas Jameson held pastorates in Scarborough and Gorham,
Maine ; he was blind during his last years. Charles H. Mar-
shall preached in various places in Indiana, and died nearly thir-
ty years ago. Ephraim O. Jameson held several pastorates ; he
is now retired and living in Boston. He has compiled several
genealogies and town histories. Rev. George A. Putnam, son
of the second pastor of the church in Dunbarton, preached for
several years in Yarmouth, Maine, then went to Milibury, Mass.,
in 187 1, where he ^ t ill resides — an unusually long pastorate
in these times. John P. Mills is preaching in Michigan.
Of the native Baptist ministers were Hosea Wheeler, Harri-
son C. Page, who died at Newton Theological Seminary just
before the completion of his course, and who gave promise of
great ability; and the brothers Joel and Christie Wheeler who
entered the ministry without a collegiate education, and both
preached in Illinois.
Though the people of Dunbarton are too peaceable and hon-
est to need the services of a lawyer, at least a dozen young men
entered the legal profession. One of the earliest college
graduates, Jeremiah Stinson, having studied law, opened an
office in his native town, but devoted the most of his time to
agriculture. He met with an accidental death at the age of
thirty-six year?. Among those who continued to practice law
were John Burnham in Hillsborough, John Jameson in Maine,
John Tenney in Methuen, Mass., Judge Joseph M. Cavis in
California, David B. Kimball in Salem, Mass., Newton H. Wil-
son in Duluth, Minn., and Henry £. Burnham in Manchester.
Only the three last named are now living.
The people of Dunbarton are proud of the fact that there
has been no resident physician in town for more than forty
years. The last, a Dr. Gilson, was here for a short time only.
Dr. Dugall was probably the first ; while others were Doctors
Symnes Sawyer, Clement, Mighill, Stearns, and Merrill.
True Morse was a seventh son ; so was Rev. Mr. Putnam,
but he refused to use his supposed powers, Among the native
46 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
physicians were Abram B. Story, who died not long since in
Manchester, William Ryder, John L. Colby, Gilman Leach,
David P. Goodhue, a surgeon in the Navy, John and Charles
Mills. The two last named practiced in Champaign, Illinois,
and were living there when last heard from. William Caldwell
is well remembered as a veterinary surgeon.
Of dentists we may name John B. Prescott, D. D. S., of
Manchester, a graduate of Pennsylvania Dental College, and
the late Dr. Edward Ryder of Portsmouth.
Notwithstanding this exodus of professional men and others,
many good and wise men made the place their home. Deacon
John Mills was town treasurer for thirty five years, selectman
twenty-two years, and representative eight years. He built the
house afterwards owned by his son-in law, Deacon Daniel H.
Parker, who was also a good citizen ; as Justice of the Peace,
he transacted much law business and settled many estates ; he
held many town offices, was a thrifty farmer, and accumulated a
large fortune.
Henry Putney, of the fourth generation from the first settler
of that name, was another strong man, who with Deacon Par-
ker and Eliphalet Sargent formed a board of selectmen in the
troubled limes of the Civil War, that did good service for the
town. His only daughter is the wife of Nahum J. Bachelder,
secretary of State Board of Agriculture. He had six sons, five
of whom are now living.
The name of Oliver Bailey has been known in town for several
generations. The present representative of that name is one
of the elder men of the town, a thrifty farmer, and was formerly
in company with his son, George O. Bailey, a cattle dealer on a
large scale. His brother, James M. Bailey, still owns part of
the paternal acres. Their father, Oliver Bailey, removed late
in life; to Bow Mills, where he died in 1889. John C. Ray
owned a beautiful home in the west part of the town ; he was
superintendent of th2 State Industrial School in Manchester
for about twenty-five years before his death in 189S.
The brothers, Captain Charles and William C. Stinson, were
SKETCH OF DUNBARTON, N. H. 47
wealthy farmers in the south part of the town ; the former re-
moved to Goffstown, and his farm is owned by Philander Lord.
The house is probably one of the oldest in town. The last
years of William C. Stinson were spent in Manchester., Harris
E. Ryder was the first Master of Stark Grange which was or-
ganized in October, 1874. His buildings were burned in 1875,
and not long afterwards he located in Bedford, where he died.
His brother, Charles G. B. Ryder, served on the school com-
mittee for several years. He removed to Manchester many
years ago and was engaged in the real estate business for many
years ; he died there several years ago. The buildings on his
farm were burned in July, 1899.
Major Caleb, son of General John Stark, built a house in
the west part of the town which is still owned by the family
and is filled with interesting relics. His son, Caleb, was the
author of the " History of Dunbarton," published in i860. He
and two unmarried sisters spent much time here, the last survi-
vor, Miss Charlotte, dying in 1889, aged about ninety years.
She was a fine specimen of the old time gentlewoman, much
given to hospitality. The place is now owned in part by her
grand nephew, Charles F. M. Stark, a descendant on the
mother's side from Robert Morris, the great financier of Revo-
lutionary times. His only son, John McNiel Stark, graduated
from Holderness School, June, 1900. The Stark cemetery is a
beautiful and well kept resting place of the dead. Besides
Stark, the names of Winslow, Newell, and McKinstry are seen
on the headstones. Benjamin Marshall, and his son, Enoch,
were prominent men in town. Many other names should be
mentioned, but space forbids.
The daughters of Dunbarton are not less worthy of mention
than her sons. Some of the teachers have already been men-
tioned. Another was Marianne, sister of Deacon Parker, who
married a Doctor Dascomb and went with him to Oberlin, Ohio,
where he became professor of chemistry in Oberlin College.
She was lady principal. It was said that there were two saints
in the Oberlin calendar, President Finney and Mrs. Dascomb.
48 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
Three of her sisters married ministers. Ann married Rev.
Isaac Bird, and went with him to Turkey as a missionary ; and
Emily married Rev. James Kimball of Oakham, Mass. ; and
Martha, Rev. Thomas Tenney ; one of her daughters is the wife
of the late Rev. Cyrus Hamlin. Two of Deacon Parker's
daughters are the wives of ministers. Louise is Mrs. Lucien H.
Frary of Pomona, California, and Abby is Mrs. John L. R.
Trask of Springfield, Mass. Dr. Trask has been for many
years trustee of Mt. Holyoke College.
Mary, daughter of Deacon John Mills, married Rev. Mr.
William Patrick of Boscawen ; Dr. Mary Mills Patrick, President
of the American College for Girl sat Constantinople, is her step-
daughter and namesake. Sarah, daughter of Benjamin Mar-
shall, married Caleb Mills who studied theology, though his
life work was teaching. Mary F., daughter of Deacon John
Paige, married Rev. David Webster, now of Lebanon, Maine.
Mary L., daughter of John Kimball of Milford, formerly of Dun-
barton, has been for more than ten years the wife of Rev. Arthur
Remington, now in Philadelphia. Perhaps the latest addition
to the list is Hannah C-, eldest daughter of Horace Caldwell,
who, January, 1899, married Rev. Avery A. K. Gleason, then
pastor of the Congregational Church in Dunbarton, now Rayn-
ham, Mass.
Mary A. daughter of Captain Charles Stinson, married
Charles A. Pillsbury, known as the flour king of Minneapolis;
who died more than a year ago.
Though the rough and rocky soil is poorly adapted to culti-
vation, Dunbarton is, and always has been, emphatically a
farming town. Yet a long list of mechanics might be given.
Carpenters, blacksmiths, painters and masons still ply their
trades, but the mill wrights, shoemakers, tanners, coopers, tail-
ors, tailoresses, and pump makers are people of the past. Less
than fifty years ago a tannery was in operation at the place
owned by Benjamin Fitts, and a good sized pond covered the
space opposite the house of Justus Lord. It was used on sev-
eral occasions by the Baptists as a place of immersion.
SKETCH OF DUNBARTON, N. H. 49
William Tenney was the carpenter who built the town hall ;
Captain Samuel Kimball, the present Congregational Church,
and many dwelling-houses. Others were the work of John
Leach. The man now living who has done more of this work
than any other is John D. Bunten, whose work has always been
done in a thorough manner.
The stone blacksmith shop of Jonathan Waite has been used
by three generations, now only for the family work. John B.
Ireland still uses the shop of his father, while Lauren P. Had-
ley's specialty is iron work on wagons. During the past few
years much timber has been removed by the aid of portable
steam mills.
The first store in town was kept by Major Caleb Stark at
Page's Corner. He had several successors, among them being
Jeremiah Page and John Kimball. At the Center I find, in the
" History of Dunbarton/' a long list of store-keepers, among
whom was David Tenney, one of whose ledgers is still pre-
served, where the entries of New England rum sold to the most
respectable citizens are as numerous as tea and coffee now-
a-days.
Deacon Burnham kept the store for many years, and later
Thomas Wilson and his son Oliver kept the store. The latter
also did considerable business as a photographer for a time.
His son in-law, John Bunten, is the present proprietor of the
store. The business has increased greatly with the sending out
of teams to take orders and deliver goods in various parts of the
town.
Among the successful business men who have left town may
be named Lyman W. Colby, who was a successful photographer
in Manchester for more than thirty years, and whose recent
sudden death is greatly to be deplored by his many friends ; John
C. Stinson, a merchant of Gloucester, N. J. ; Samuel G. Burn-
ham of St. Louis, Missouri : and the late Fred D. Sargent,
owner of a restaurant in St. Paul, Minn., where he furnished meals
to 500 people daily, and to many more on extra occasions. He
had also a branch establishment at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, of
50 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
which his brother, Frank H. Sargent is manager. For several
years a newspaper was published by Oscar H. A. Chamberlen,
called The Snow-Flake, afterwards The Analecta.
The first library in town was kept at the house of Benjamin
Whipple, and was called the Dunbarton Social Library. Some
of the books are still preserved. A parish library, containing
many valuable works, was collected by Miss Mary Stark, and
was for many years the source of pleasure and profit to the
attendants at St. John's Church. Some years after her death
the books were given to a Library Association, formed at the
Center, which in turn was merged with the Public Library,
founded in 1892, of which Miss Hannah K. Caldwell was, till
her marriage, the efficient librarian. The position is now rilled
by Mabel Kelly. A library is also owned by Stark Grange.
For the past thirty years or more, many summer boarders
have come to Dunbarton. The houses of James M. Bailey,
William B. Burnham, and Peter Butterfield, were well filled for
several years, while at many other places some people were
accommodated. At the present time two houses at the Center,
owned by Henry P. Kelly, are filled every summer ; also the
house of Frank C. Woodbury, the former home of Deacon Par-
ker on the " hill beautiful," where "glorious golden summers
wax and wane, where radiant autumns all their splendors shed."
The pure air of Dunbarton seems to be conducive to long
life. Two citizens passed the century mark. Mrs. Joseph
Leach died in 1849, aged 102 years, 9 monlhs. Mrs. Achsah
P. (Tenney) Whipplelived to the age of 100 years, 9 months.
Her centennial birthday was celebrated June 28, 1886, by a
large gathering of relatives and friends. Her only daughter
married Joseph A Gilmore, for many years Superintendent of
the Concord Railroad, and also Governor of New Hampshire.
Her grand daughter was the first wife of Hon. William E. Chan-
dler, who, doubtless, has pleasant recollections of his visits to
his betrothed at the home of her grandparents.
Among the residents of the town who attained the age of
90 years or more were Mrs. Mary Story, 98 years, 4 months, 12
SKETCH OF DUNBARTON, N. H. 51
days ; Mrs. Ann C, widow of Deacon John Wilson, 98 years ;
Deacon John Church, 97 years; Mrs. Abigail (Burnham) Ire-
land, 94 years ; There were several others whose ages I do not
know. Mr. and Mrs. Guild, near the Bow line, I think were
over 90 years. Many have passed the age of 80 years. Dea-
con Samuel Burnham is now 88 years ; he and his wife lived
together moie than 63 years. Mr. and Mrs. James Stone lived
together more than 65 years. Mrs. Stone survived her husband
only a few weeks. Colonel Samuel B. Hammond and wife cel-
ebrated their golden wedding in 1892.
Stark Grange is the only secret society in town, though some
individuals belong to societies in adjoining towns. The mem-
bership of Stark Grange is about ninety.
The patriotism of the town has always been unquestioned.
Dumbarton has sent her sons to battle for the right in every
war. Seventeen men took part in the French and Indian War,
including Major Robert Rogers, and other men by the names
of Rogers, Stark. McCurdy. and others.
In the Revolutionary Army were fifty seven from Dunbarton,
including the brothers John and Thomas Mills, William Beard,
and others. Caleb Stark, afterwards a resident, though very
youug, was with his father at Bunker Hill.
Henry L. Burnham used to tell a story of a cave on the
farm which was his home for many years (now owned by John
Haynes) which once sheltered a deserter from the Revolution-
ary Army. The man afterwards went to the northern part of
the State, and at the very hour of his death, during a heavy
thunder shower, the entrance to the cave was closed so com-
pletely that the most diligent search has failed to discover any
trace of it.
In the war of 181 2, eleven enlisted, and twelve were drafted.
Probably Benjamin Bailey was the last survivor. Among those
who went to the Mexican War were Benjamin Whipple and
Charles G. Clement.
Dunbarton sent more than fifty men to the Civil War ; sev-
eral sent substitutes. To three men were given captain's com-
52 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
missions, namely, William E. Bunten, Henry M. Caldwell, who
died of fever in Falmouth, Va., in 1862, and Andrew J. Stone,
who was killed at the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864. Mar-
cus M. Holmes returned a lieutenant and Horace Caldwell was
orderly sargeant ; Wilbur F. Brown died of starvation at Ander-
sonville, and Benjamin Twiss narrowly escaped a like fate at
Libby Prison. He was suffocated in a mine in the Far West not
very long ago.
Two young men went to the Spanish-American War who
were born in Dunbarton, and had lived here the larger part of
their lives, namely, William J. Sawyer, who enlisted in the New
Hampshire Regiment from Concord, and Fred H. Mills, who
enlisted at Marlboro, Mass., in the Sixth Massachusetts Regi-
ment, He died in Goffstown, June 26, 1900, of disease con-
tracted in the army.
No railroad touches the town, and probably never will, but
an electric car route over the hill has been prophesied.
The mail has always come by way of Concord, and the car-
rier's wagon has furnished transportation for many people.
Hon William E. Chandler drove the mail wagon for a time some
fifty years ago. The postoffice was first established in 181 7,
at the Center; another at North Dunbarton in 1834 j a third
at East Dunbarton in 1883. In 1899 the free rural delivery
system was adopted, giving general satisfaction to the residents.
I have written chiefly of the past history of the town, but I
think I may say that the people of the presentday are endeavor-
ing to maintain as good a reputation as their ancestors.
Asiatic Cholera in Manchester, 1849-54.
CONTRIBUTED BY GEORGE C. GILMORE. (BEING EXTRACTS FROM
" TTE RAMBLER," HENRY H. EVERETT, IN THE " MAN-
CHESTER UNION," JULY 12, 1884.)
The first visitation made by the Asiatic cholera to this city was in
1849. The disease broke out in New Orleans in December, 1848,
continuing through the entire winter, and extending throughout
the greater part of the country the following year. The first
cases in Manchester occurred about the middle of July, but
owing to the lack of official records it is exceedingly difficult
to secure details of the ravages of the epidemic. Hon. Jacob
F. James was mayor, and the late Dr. John S. Elliot was city
physician. To the best of Mr. James's recollection, the mother
of James S. Cheney, the expressman, was among the earliest if
not the first victim. She resided on Lowell street, between
Birch and Chestnut streets. There were in all 25 or 30 deaths
that summer, and among them some very touching cases. A
family living on Manchester street consisted of a man and wife
and three children. The husband was taken sick at breakfast
time, dying within an hour or two, and before noon the wife lay
beside him, a corpse. Only one of the children, a girl, was old
enough to realize their loss, and her pleadings to see her papa
and mamma once more were most pitiful. The mayor exerted
himself in their behalf, and they were all three placed in good
homes with relatives out of the city.
In a house near the one owned by the widow Wallace on
Central street, an Irish woman died. The mayor went to Am-
herst that morning, having left directions for the immediate in-
terment of the corpse. On his return later in the day he found
54 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
the corpse still unburied, and in the street about the premises
were gathered hundreds of her fellow countrymen, determined
that the funeral should not take place until the corpse had been
shrived by a priest. The mayor at once took the matter inc harge.
Entrance was made through the crowd into the house, and the
coffin containing the body was being borne out by Major Ing-
ham, then a police officer, and another officer named Knowlton,
when a number of women threw themselves upon it forcing the
bearers to drop their burden. It fell to the floor with a crash,
emitting such a stench that it drove nearly every one from the
house. The funeral then proceeded without interruption, though
nearly a thousand people followed the corpse to the burial
ground.
Another case occurred in the rear of Manchester street, and
after death the friends of the victim proceeded to u wake " the
corpse in the good old-fashioned way. Daniel L. Stevens, then
city marshal, went to the house and was actually compelled to
drive the " wakers " out of the room by force in order to get to
the corpse and have it buried.
On a Saturday evening a man living at the corner of Elm and
Manchester streets, where the Straw block now stands, came
into the market kept by Dustin Marshall, on the opposite cor-
ner, under what is now the Merchants National Bank, and pur-
chased meat for his Sunday dinner. Before Sunday night the
man and his wife both lay dead in the same room. Dr. Thomas
Brown attended these cases, and here contracted the disease
which was soon to end his own life. During the month of
August a number of cholera patients were sent to the city farm
or poor house, which then as now was also the house of correc-
tion. Between Saturday and Sunday, about the middle of the
month, a number of deaths occurred at the institution, and
about three o'clock Monday morning, Mayor James was awak-
ened by a patrolman, who told him that Rundlett, the keeper,
his wife, and Young, the assistant, had all run away, leaving the
patients and criminals to take care of themselves. Mr. James
arose and went in search of Dr. Elliot, whom he found sick
ASIATIC CHOLERA IN MANCHESTER. 55
and unable to go out, so he went alone to the poor farm, which
he found in a horribly filthy condition, both indoors and out.
All the day long the mayor labored to straighen out matters,
and it was not until nine o'clock in the evening that he felt
able to come away, leaving one of the prisoners in charge. He
subsequently sent a man by the name of Sherburne to have the
charge of the house, and requested Dr. D. F. Stark to attend
to the patients. The Doctor sent word to the mayor to send him
some Otard brandy, and two gallons were sent up. Under the
Doctor's care the patients began to mend, and no more deaths
occurred there during the epidemic. The fugitive keeper sub-
sequently returned to the city, and after a rather bitter debate
he was reinstated by the officials in charge.
The most wide spread consternation was caused by the death
of Dr. Thomas Brown, a very popular physician. He was
stoutly-built, of medium height, quite bald, the picture of rug-
ged health, tipping the scales at 200 pounds. As stated before
the Doctor attended the cases occurring at the corner of Elm
and Manchester streets on a Sunday. The day was intensely
hot, and Dr. Brown was accompanied by Dr. Thomas Wheat,
now practising here. The odor of the room was very bad, and
Dr. Brown went to an open window, and wiping the sweat from
his brow he remarked, " This is the devil, ain't it ? " an expres-
sion quite common with him when a little excited. The following
Tuesday or Wednesday he was attacked by the disease and
died before noon. The evening previous to his death the Doc-
tor passed Daniel L. Stevens, who was sitting on the steps of
his steam mill, on the site now occupied by David B. Varney's
foundry. " How are you, Doctor ? " queried Mr. Stevens, and
receiving in reply the laconic expression, " Perfect," a common
word with the Doctor. The next morning, about eight o'clock,
Mayor James met him on Concord Square, and was greeted
with, "Good morning, Mr. Mayor," from the Doctor, who
immediately added, " For the first time in my life I am alarmed."
The mayor looked at the Doctor, and saw plainly signs of the
fatal scourge, mainly in the glazed appearance of his eyes
56 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
which he described as much like the glare of a dead person.
He told the Doctor to go into the house at once and he would
send a physician. The Doctor lived near the common, and Drs.
Gregg and Wheat went to him, but the disease had already
done its fatal work, and he died in fearful agony about eleven
o'clock in the forenoon. During his hours of suffering his
shrieks could be heard away across the Square. The death of
Dr. Brown caused more fright than anything that had preceded
it, and a feeling of utter despair crept over the community.
The afternoon following his death the streets of the city were
deserted, and old residents say that from one end of Elm street
to the other not a living person was to be seen. The epidemic
spent its force in August, and with the advent of fall had
entirely disappeared.
The second epidemic made its appearance in Manchester
in 1854, as before breaking out in the south several months
previous. As in the epidemic of 1849, no published data of
any extent is attainable, the city officials, mill management and
press combining to keep the matter quiet for fear of interrupt-
ing business and keeping operative help from coming to the
city. But the scars left by the first visit had hardly healed ,
and the fears occasioned by it were still fresh in the memory of
the people, and so upon the re appearance of the disease the
excitement approached very nearly to a panic. No report of a
physician appears in the city report of 1854, and but few
deaths are recorded in the papers of that year, but the number
is variously estimated from one score to four score, the latter esti-
mate by a gentleman who was Noble Grand of an Odd-Fellows
lodge at the time and an overseer on the Stark corporation, so
that his opportunities for obtaining facts were exceptionally
good. Yet in view of all the facts obtainable it does not appear as
if the mortality was as great as in 1849. Among others others
there died, August 20, Elizabeth Duby, who worked for George
C. Gilmore on the Stark corporation. She left the mill Satur-
day afternoon at the close of work, apparently as well as ever.
Sunday night the poor gill was borne to her last resting place
ASIATIC CHOLERA IN MANCHESTER. 57
in the Valley cemetery. Another case was that of Thomas M
Carr, who died the same month, the 30th of August. So wide,
spread was the fear of contagion that it was almost impossible
to procure any one to care for the sick. A Mr. Gardner was
employed to nurse Mr. Carr at $10 a night, but he was taken
sick and died, after which, although $20 a night was offered, no
help could be hired, and the brotherhood of Odd-Fellows had
to care for the stricken one, four of them, Charles C. Keniston,
Abel M. Keniston, James M. Howe, and George C. Gilmore,
taking turns, two at a time, until Mr. Carr died. All four of
the watchers escaped the disease.
Several deaths occurred on Concord street, nearly opposite
Vine street, among them a Mr. Fitts, or Fitz, residing in the
" yellow block " ; also a Mrs. Brown ; close by lived Mrs.
Richard Smith, the mother of Mrs. Gilman B. Fogg. Mrs.
Smith was stricken down and with her aged mother fell victim
to the disease. Mrs. George C. Batchelder, wife of the veteran
hackman, nursed Mrs. Smith through her illness. Quite a
number of deaths occurred in the same locality and also in the
vicinity of Manchester street, and at the south end.
During the prevalence of both epidemics many fatal cases
were marked by peculiar characteristics. Dysentery would first
set in, without perceptibly weakening the subject ; then the col-
lapse would come like a stroke of lightning and in a few hours
death ensued. Decomposition seemed to set in even before life
was extinct, the flesh turned purple, emitting offensive odors,
and mortification followed immediately after death, necessitat-
ing hasty burial. Many of the dead were buried at night, in the
north east corner of the Valley cemetery, and now lie fully
twenty feet below the surface, by reason of the filling up to
grade.
Both in 1849 anc * J 854 the violence of the epidemic was ex-
pended on that part of the city lying between Elm back street
and Chestnut street, isolated cases only occurring outside of
those limits.
58 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
Rock Rimmon.
BY WILLIAM ELLERY MOORE.
It is not known when the conspicuous rock, near the city of
Manchester, rising from the high plateau, west of the Merri-
mack river, was named, nor by whom the name was conferred.
It is, however, quite certain that it has been generally known as
Rock Rimmon for. not less than seventy years, and very prob-
able for a much longer time. As is not unusual, this name has
been more or less corrupted, and has sometimes taken the form
of li Rock Raymond/' commonly pronounced " Rock Raymon."
One of the earlier charts of the city gives the name as Ray
mond. Careful inquiry reveals no evidence that this latte
name was correctly given, and it was so written without author-
ity by the engineer in charge, in ignorance of the real name or
a concession to a mispronunciation and orthography then
somewhat common.
The writer has taken pains to interview some of the more
scholarly and intelligent among our older citizens, with the re-
sult of an entire agreement as to the correctness of the form
first given, as well as concerning the undoubtedly Old Testa-
ment origin of the name. In order to show the probability and
practical certainty of its scriptural origin and application, we
append such references as the Old Testament records afford.
We find, first, the name of one Rimmon, who was known as
" Rimmon the Beerothite " (II Samuel iv, 5, 8). He had two
sons, Rechab and Baanah, who are described as a pair of
bloodthirsty scoundrels and assassins, of a type quite common
in their day and generation. In the absence of direct evidence
it is quite conceivable that this " Beerothite " was the first
settler who preempted that particular claim and bestowed his
name upon that locality.
We again find Rimmon under the form of " Ramon, '' mean-
ing exalted, as an ancient idol, by which was represented the
sun, or sun-worship, at Damascus.
We find further that at a later date the city of Rimmon first
ROCK RIMMON. 59
belonged to the Levites and was known as one of the cities of
the priests ; that it was afterwards reckoned as one of the cities
of Judah, and that it was finally given to Simeon. At that time
it is described as " Rimmon with her suburbs" (I Chronicles vi,
77) ; also as one of " the twenty-nine cities of Judah with their
villages " (Joshua xv, 32). In Simeon's day it was spelled
" Remmon." From these references we must conclude it was a
place of considerable importance.
En Rimmon, a city near Jerusalem, is referred to in Nehemiah
xi, 29. Um er-Rummanim, meaning mother of pomegranates, is by
biblical students identified as the same place, and is described
as a village in ruins fifteen miles southeast of Hebron. Between
two hills, both covered presumably with ancient ruins, and a
mile south of the village, is a large fountain, the chief watering-
place in that region. The word Rimmon means pamegrdn&ie.
Rimmon parez, meaning pomegranate of the breach, was one of
the camping places of the Israelites, during the exodus, where
they pitched their tents (Numbers xxxiii, 19, 20). Parez means
a breach in a wall or cliff.
" The Rock of Rimmon " and " Rock Rimmon " are spoken
of in Judges xx, 45, 47, and xxi, 13.
Finally, we find the scriptural Rock Rimmon to have been a
high rock or hill ten miles north of Jerusalem, and four miles
east of Bethel, on which there is now a modern village. After a
loss of more than twenty five thousand fighting men, in a series
of sanguinary battles in the great Jewish civil war, eighteen thou-
sand men having fallen in one engagement, the remnant of the
tribe of Benjamin, six hundred in number, held this Rock for
four months against their enemies. The Rock appears to have
constituted a natural fortress of great strength, as the warriors
of Benjamin are several times spoken of as M in the Rock."
After the foregoing Old Testament record, and especially in
view of the distinct and remarkable appropriateness of transfer-
ring the scriptural name of Rock Rimmon to our Merrimack
valley rock or cliff, there appears no reasonable doubt as to its
original appellation, and that it was and is and should remain
Rock Rimmon, nothing appearing to the contrary.
Narrative of James Johnson
A CAPTIVE DURING THE INDIAN WARS IN NEW ENGLAND.
COMPILED FROM THE MASSACHUSETTS ARCHIVES, VOL. $8 A, PAGE
329, AND ANNOTATED BY G. WALDO BROWNE.
SKETCH OF CAPTAIN JOHNSON.
Captain James Johnson was among the earlier settlers of Grant
No. 4, now Charlestown, N. H., and came here from Massachu-
setts with others to help defend a post that was so favorably
situated to guard one of the most common routes of the Indians
on their way to and from Canada. The fort here was built by
Massachusetts and was supposed to be in that province. On the
morning of August 29, 1754, he and his family, consisting of
his wife, three children and sister-in-law Miriam Willard, were
surprised by the Indians, and with two men named Peter Lara-
bee and Ebenezer Farnsworth, were carried off captives. The
long journey proved extremely trying, the party at times suffer-
ing for food. On the second day Mrs. Johnson gave birth to a
child, a daughter christened Captive, from the conditions sur-
rounding her birth. The captors appear to have been very
solicitous of the welfare of their captives, and upon reaching
Montreal, Johnson was given a parole of two months to enable
him to return and solicit aid to redeem himself and the others.
Appealing to the assembly of New Hampshire, he obtained,
after a vexatious delay, one hundred and fifty pounds sterling.
But the season had been well advanced before he had returned,
and it was then winter, and he was unable to get back to
Montreal before another spring. This gave his captors
grounds to claim that he had broken his parole, and after being
robbed of considerable of his money he was seized and thrown
NARRATIVE OF JAMES JOHNSON. 61
into prison, together with his wife, four children, and her sister.
Remaining a year and a half in prison, Mrs. Johnson, two of
her daughters, and her sister were sent to England, from whence
they eventually reached Boston. Captain Johnson was kept in
prison three years, when he was allowed to go to Boston, ac-
companied by his son. The other child, his eldest daughter,
had been innured in a nunnery just out of Montreal, and he
was unable to effect her release. He and his son fortunately
reached Boston in season to meet the fugitives from England,
and after having passed through a series of hardships, suf-
ferings and misfortunes peculiar to pioneer life, the distressed
family were reunited, with the exception of the daughter
mentioned, who never rejoined her kindred. Still Captain
Johnson's misfortunes were not entirely over, for he was soon
atrested and thrown into prison charged with being in the em-
ploy of the French. Happily he soon disproved this charge,
and there is nothing to show that he experienced any further
harm.
This account of personal adventures is valuable mainly for
the information it contains regarding the distances, physical
features of the country, and the association of the French and
Indians.
DEPOSITION OF CAPTAIN JOHNSON 1
The Committee who was directed to examine James Johnson,
a Late Captain in Canada, beg leave to Report that he gives
ye following account of facts (viz.) that it is a hundred miles
from No. 4 to Crown Point that in his Journey to Canada 2 he
1. November 14, 1757.
2. This was the most common route of the Indians in their passages to the val-
ley of the Connecticut below what was known as " Moose Meadows," now includ-
ed in Haverhill and Piermont. These highways of travel for the Indians always
followed the most convenient waterways, and after following a stream to its foun-
tain-head, if their course led as far, they loaded their burdens on their backs, in-
cluding their canoes, and so crossed the country to the nearest river or pond lying
in their course, In 1759, New Hampshire cut a road from the junction of Black
River with the Connecticut at No. 4, across what is now the State of Vermont
to the headwaters of Lake Champlain in order to open an easier route to Canada.
This followed very closely the old Indian trail from Pocumtuck valley to Montreal.
Another trail of the red men was up the Connecticut River to Weld's, now
62 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
passed a River Called black River ye first night that he
Crossed White River Several times and for want of a canooe he
travel'd by otter Creek that in General the travelling was good
that he could not tell how high the Emminence of Crown Point
was but that the Citadle is the opposite side & before ( . ) ye
breastwork was Raised Shot would strike ye Door of ye Citadel
from ye Emminence & the wall of the fort is twelve feet
high & twelve feet thick & then abreast work about Two foot
thickness — (the) heights & ye Cannon are planted nearly
alike Round the fort Excepting on part of ye north Square
where ye barracks are (&) that there is no out works (&) that
he apprehends the Citadel is not tenable against proper batter-
ing pieces and that the place of unloading their vessell from
the fort is about Sixty Rod & the Emminence is a hundred Rod
from ye place of unloading & before ye vessell Can be Covered
by ye fort She must be Exposed to a fire from ye Emminence
& that ye powder house Stores exposed to ye Emminence that
there is no no well in ye fort that ye Store house is next to
the Emminence that there is but one outer Gate & that has a
Drawbridge before it & a Gate within that, which may be drawn
up (&) drop'd down as occasion Requires that there is no
( ? , 3 in ye fort & but one vessel in ye lake 4 which is about 70
tons without guns & that from Crown Point he went to S Johns
Fort at the other end of ye Lake and from there to Cham-
plain River 5 & that from S Johns Fort to S l Francis is
about fifty miles near north & from S Francis to S Lawrence
Wells River, thence up that stream to its source in the Green Mountains, and
through a gap in the highlands to the headwaters of the French now Lamoile
River, after which a comparatively easy way was found to their destination. A
third route, more broken than either ol the others, was taken usually by the In-
dians visiting the Merrimack vallcv as f r south as Dunstable. This followed
the Merrimack and Pemegiwassett and Raker's Rivers to the dividing ridge be-
tween the valleys. Thence by a " carrying-place," and small stream to the Con-
necticut, up that river to where is now the town of Dalton, thence striking across
the western and northern country by small streams and lakes to the head of Lake
Mcmphreniagog, and down that body of water and outlet to the St. Francis River.
Did they wish to keep on to Quebec the course was then down the St. Lawrence.
3. Tiiis word is written so poorly as not to be deciphered with any certainty.
4. Lake Champlain was called by the early French writers Mer ties Iroquois,
and Lams Jrocoisionsis. — Jesuit Relations. Winthrop, in 1600, referred to it as
LnkeJIiraeoies. — Winsor, Vol. IV p. 391.
5. Richelieu River.
G. So named by Jacques Cartier, in 1.W5, but frequently called by early writers
NARRATIVE OF JAMES JOHNSON. 63
is about five miles & that ye Rout between S Johns and
S Francis there are two K.ows of houses one on each side ye
River 7 in the whole about two hundred in some places pretty
thick & a fort at Chamblain as Strong as Crown Point & that the
whole village of S Francis Stands on an rise of Ground Moun-
tains near fourty buildings of all Sorts that there is no fort in
it but some stone houses and buildings no considerable Settle-
ments within fifteen miles of S fc Francis neither did he hear of
any & he apprehended there is no settlement near than Tres
Riveres which is about fifteen miles from St Francis and that
there is of St Francis 8 & Shatacooks 9 about one hundred &
Twenty fighting men that S k Francis Lyes on ye north side the
River of that Name & her three great Guns not mounted which
they fire on Some occasion that there is young woods about the
Town on ye Fast & north sides & that he apprehends the Dis-
tance to Mount Royal from S fc Francis about fifty miles South-
west Southerly & that M Royal is Walled all Round about
twelve feet high about Same thickness of Crown Point & and as
is about as big as Charlestown that the Town is built Long &
narrow and has many Gates to it that there are on that Island
four or five hundred houses Twenty seven Cannon & two mor-
tars all planted on a little hill within the walls and that he saw
about Twenty vessels in Quebeck River at one time which were
" The Great River," " The River of the Great Bay." In an account of his second
voyage Cartier styled it le grand fleuve tie Hochelaga, It was also sometimes
called the "The River Canada." This word seems to have come from the Iro-
quois vocabulary, and meant " Land of the Lakes." The Indians in the vicinity
of Quebec — Kebec — were culled Canadis, by the, French, or Canadacoa, in their
own tongue, which became Canadian with the French, and was applied to the
people of the valley of the St. Lawrence. The Indian name probably meant
'• People living near the water." This might mean both river and lake. The St.
Lawrence was also known as the " river Saque." Quebec is the site of an Indian
town known as Stadonica, and the word as accepted by the French was
variously spelled as Kebec, Kebek, Quebeck, Quebec. The native word signified
In that dialect " The narrowing of the water."
7. Richelieu River.
8. The history of St. Francis was a stormy one. It became the most noted
mission in New France, as well as the strongest, until it was raided and laid in
ruins by Major Rogers and his Rangers in 1759. But this expedition was not alone
disastrous to the red men, who were taken completely by surprise by the whites,
for many of the Rangers, as singular as it must seem, lost their way upon their
return and perished in the great northern wilderness.
9. An Indian settlement below St. Francis sometimes given as Sagarac.
64 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
a kind of Brigantines and that during his Tarrying at S fc Francis
which was about three weeks the French carried meat at most
Every day & Distributed it among the Indians and as they took
no account of it nore made any Reconing about it he apprehended
it Sent from the Government and also he saw five barrels of
powder & some balls and Coats which the Indians told him the
French gave them and that at Tres Riveres there is a Furnace
where they Cast Great Guns & that fourty men were Sent from
old France for that purpose. By order
JOHN CHOATE.
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Early Recollections of Manchester.
AN ADDRESS BY MR. JOSEPH KIDDER, DELIVERED BEFORE THE
MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION, OCTOBER 1 6, I90I.
Mr. President and Gentlemen:
I wish to say that I am laboring under some disadvantage in
speaking before the society tonight. I am not here with a pre-
pared article, and indeed it was not expected that I should have
one, although I think it should be the purpose of every man who
presents matter before this society to present it in such a way
that it may be recorded and entered in the proceedings and
printed records of the association.
I wish also to congratulate the President and society upon
the success of the efforts that have been made by Mr. Perkins
in behalf of the membership. We certainly are sure that there
is a growing interest in the Historical society of Manchester,
and we believe that our leading citizens generally ought to take
a vital interest in this work because now is the time to preserve
the history of our city and of our state. There are a great
many things that have been lost simply because they have not
been recorded. It was my fortune to be on intimate terms of
friendship with the late Judge Nesmith of Franklin, and there
probably was no man who was better informed with regard to
the historic events of the last fifty or one hundred years than he
was, and yet for some reason he did not commit his knowledge
to writing, and when he died, of course it was lost.
Now what I have to say tonight will be mostly of a personal
character, relating very largely to myself. It is not in manu-
script, and indeed I do not know that anything that I shall say
will be worthy of being put into print.
I think that the history of Manchester properly should be
66 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
divided into three periods or epochs. I would divide it in this
way: The first period should include the history, so far as we
may be able to obtain it, of the aborigines who occupied this
territory for so many years. In the second place, the history
should extend (for reasons which perhaps I may state here-
after) from the period of the settlement of the town until about
the year 1838. The third epoch should cover the time since
for an indefinite period. My remarks will be made as relating
more particularly to the latter part of the second period because
that covers the time of my own early life, and especially the
early history of Manchester as a corporate body.
Every man perhaps has a desire to recall as far as he can the
first event in his life that he can remember. I have sometimes
asked people, and a great many of them, how old they were at
the time of the first event that they can recall, and I find the
general statement to be that but few people (when they have
reached fifty years of age or more) recall events occurring be-
fore they were five or six years of age. I do not know that I
am an exception to that general rule, but I do recall two events
that occurred when I was less than four years of age. The
first event that comes to my recollection is the death of General
John Stark, who was my great-grandfather on my mother's side.
I do not remember anything distinctly in regard to him, except
his funeral ceremony. I recall the fact that I was present, and
that there were military men there, and we are told by the his-
torian that the company from Bedford, possibly the Bedford
Light Infantry, attended upon that occasion.
The second ^vent that I recall in my life was the death of my
own father which took place in the latter part of the same year,
1822. I recall this perhaps on account of a peculiar circum-
stance. I was then less than four years of age, and while I do
not remember my father in his personal looks, and while I do
not recall anything that he may have said, I do remember
the sad day when his remains were laid away to their final rest.
I recall the fact that there were gathered around his grave
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF MANCHESTER. 6^
members of the Masonic fraternity, for he was a member of
that organization, and then as now they were accustomed to
bury their dead with ceremonies peculiar to the order, and I re-
member distinctly of seeing that strange sight (which was a
strange sight indeed to me) of men standing around the grave
wearing white aprons upon their person, and, it made a deep
and lasting impression upon me. So I begin my little history
or sketch of Manchester with the events of that year, and I
wish to recall many things that I have been made familiar with
from that date along down through a period of many years.
Of every individual and of every nation as well, on attaining
to the age of responsibility the first thought is how to live and
provide for the sustenance of the body, in which the soul or
mind dwells and then perhaps beyond that is the thought of
the beautiful. Every man to a greater or less degree has an
idea of the beautiful. I have been asked why I think the In-
dians settled around the Amoskeag Falls, long ago. I think
that they had this sense of utility or of self preservation, and
how to provide for the sustenance of their bodies, and they saw
at once that the Merrimack river, which in those days was full
of fish, would provide them the means of living to a very large
degree throughout the year. In the second place I think some-
times that they also had a clear idea of the beautiful. I re-
member that when I was a boy among the things that delighted
me almost more than anything else was to walk upon the banks
of the Merrimack river in the spring of the year when the
mountain torrents came down from the north raging and roar-
ing and foaming, as they did in those days, and as they do now
in the time of a freshet, and I thought then, as I have also ever
since thought, thac there is no location in the state of New
Hampshire, and I think I speak advisedly now, that there is no
point in the state of New Hampshire more beautiful to the eye
or more grand or stirring than may be found above Amoskeag
Falls, looking down upon the Merrimack river and across to the
hills and mountains of Goifstown and beyond. I have not lost
68 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
my admiration of the scenery about Amoskeag Falls to this day,
and I do not wonder that the Indians were attracted by its
beauty and grandeur.
I recall now something of the roads of Manchester at that
time. There were perhaps only two or three principal roads in
that part of Manchester which now constitutes our city as a
city. In the other and further parts of the town there were
roads about which I shall not speak, but the principal road was
the River road, running from Hooksett along the line of the
river down towards Nashua. Another road ran from the
vicinity of the falls, through Manchester Centre, or what is now
known as Hallsville, to old Londonderry, while another some-
what to the north, over the hills, reached the same point.
The town was then a farming community. The people were
mostly farmers, and the town itself was covered almost entirely
with a dense growth of forest. Hardly any of the land on the
road from Hooksett along the line of the river was more than a
few rods in width between the river and the forest. The woods
came down to within thirty or forty rods of the house in which
General Stark lived, and alon^ the entire distance, except in a
few places there was only a small space between the forests and
the Merrimack river. Of course about the Centre and older
settled districts the tracts of cleared land were larger, but the
town itself was mostly in those days covered with a heavy
growth of wood and timber.
I also remember among other things something about the
bridges we had in those days. In the earlier times there was
but one bridge across the Merrimack river at this point, and
no other bridge between Hooksett and Nashua, so far as I now
remember. That bridge finally went to ruin and was afterwards
rebuilt, but I remember when it was in a dilapidated condition
going across on the timbers, for much of the business of Man-
chester was done not in the town of Manchester, but in the vil
lage of Piscataquog, called Squog for short. There were two
or three stores over there, while there was only one very small
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF MANCHESTER. 69
one, or possibly two, on this side of the river, so the people of
Manchester were accustomed to cross on this old bridge or by
the ferry, which was in existence at that time, sometimes cross-
ing just below what was McGregor bridge, and sometimes
crossing by Merrill's Falls, but most of the transportation was
done by boats because the bridge was not in a safe condition.
I also remember well about the schools in those days. Man-
chester in very early times turned its attention to school mat-
ters. I am not able to give the dates in reference to the forma-
tion of the schools and many other matters as should be done in
a historic lecture, but this is not of that character. It is only a
little bit of a talk. I remember the little old school house at the
Falls. There is a very fine picture of it in the history of Man-
chester as given by Judge Potter. I do not know but our Pres-
dent made the picture. I presume he did. It gives a very
correct idea of the school house, and that is the first place where
I attended school when a boy four or five years of age. I re-
member the first school master that ever taught in that school
when I went there, and that was the late Judge Aaron Whitte-
more of Pembroke, whom I looked upon as a cold, indifferent,
and hard-hearted man, but whom I later found to be cordial
and genial, a very friendly man and a very excellent teacher.
There were three schools in the town at the time. Besides all
this, it was a common thing to have instruction for the smaller
children in private schools. I remember that two of these
schools were held, one in the house of John Stark, and the
other in the house of Mr. Kennedy, a little above the Reform
School. The people of Manchester in their earlier days were
imbued with the idea that knowledge was essential not only to
children, but essential to people of larger growth, and I believe
that this has been a characteristic of Manchester ever since,
that it has been devoted to the purposes of education and the
development of the human mind.
I remember the locks and canals, and the canal that was built
by Judge Blodget. although I do not know that 1 recall him. This
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF MANCHESTER. 7 1
enterprise was one quite remarkable in its character in those
early times. We must remember in thinking of these things
that it was long before the day of trolley cars, railroads and
easy riding carriages with rubber tires on the wheels. In fact
there was hardly anything but ox carts and carts made with the
bodies resting upon solid axle trees of the cart itself, and so it
was not an easy thing to ride in the carriages of that day. I
also remember when the stone lock was built. As I recall now,
at the point where the canal entered was a guard gate, or gate
opening into a reservoir, and just below this gate and just at
the lower extremity of this reservoir were two locks that were
used for carrying through boats or rafts as the case might be,
I will not now stop to describe these locks. Then there was a
long canal extending nearly down to what is now the bridge
across the river. From there, there were three locks that
opened from the canal down into the river. In my early days,
perhaps 1825, one of the locks gave out and they replaced it
with a lock built entirely of stone, and it became a permanent
structure, I remember very well the men who built the lock,
indeed they occupied my father's house at the time, and we re-
moved to a new house up the river. And this leads me to say
just now in passing that at the time about which I am speaking,
there were but ten houses in the whole of Manchester proper.
I do not include the outskirts of the town, or the North End, or
the South End, neither do I include Amoskeag or Squog, be-
cause these two villages were then, one in the town of Goffs-
town and the other in portions of Bedford. There may be some
here who did not know that portions of Goffstown and Bedford
were ever added to our city.
I remember one little instance that occurred when I was only
four or five years old, or six years of age at the most. Al-
though a boy I was on very familiar terms with the men on the
river, both boatmen and raftmen. My father's house was a
boarding house, and my mother after becoming a widow, con-
72 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
tinued the house for the accommodation of the rivermen,
whether boatmen or rafters, as they were called, and so I
knew almost every boatman on the river. They usually stayed
over night, or stopped at the house for dinner. During the
time that goods were being carried by boats I remember that
I was down at the locks one day to see what was being done,
and I noticed quite a number of small packages. I called
them little barrels in those days, and upon inquiry I found that
they were packages of white lead. That was when white lead
was first being used for painting houses. The merchants had
bought these in Boston and v/ere taking them up to Concord
and other places for sale. I stooped down to lift up one of
these packages and I was unable to do it; it was a little pack-
age weighing about twenty-five pounds, but I was unable to lift
it because it was so heavy.
The rivermen call my attention now for a moment. There
were two classes of rivermen, the raftmen and the boatmen,
and they were quite unlike in their character and in their habits.
The raftmen came down once a year on their way to Boston or
Newburyport, as the case might be. I need not describe the
rafts as I presume they are familiar to you all. In going over
the falls they were obliged to have, as they usually had, a com-
petent man to pilot the raft. He was upon the rear part of the
timber, and acted as captain of the raft. On the forward end
oftentimes were two men for the purpose of changing the direction
of the raft as it was moving. The man in the rear gave direc-
tions which way to pull their oars in order to clear the rocks.
This gave employment to a class of men who lived here in the
spring. They were called captains and oftentimes were em-
ployed by the men who owned the rafts to take them down as
far as Litchfield. These men demanded pretty extravagant
wages; some used to charge $2.00 or $3.00 for taking a raft
from here to Litchfield. In those days, however, the means of
communication were not very good, and the men returned with
their oars on their shoulders, because they had no other means
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF MANCHESTER. 73
of bringing them back. A heavy oar weighed from twelve to
twenty five pounds. The boatmen were a different class of
people. While some were prominent citizens of this and other
neighborhoods, yet there were writers who spoke of them as
very common men. I esteem them highly for their character
and great, good nature. The captains, or pilots of these boats,
as I recall many of them, were charged with a high degree of
responsibility. The freights in their charge often amounted to
hundreds, perhaps thousands of dollars, and I never knew a
captain of one of these boats during the entire time that they
were upon the river to forfeit his honor. And so far as I know
there was never a defalcation laid to their charge. I regard
them now as men of character and standing. I could call the
names of some who ranked as prominent men in this and other
places where they lived.
As to railroads, I remember very well when the first railroad
was built through this place, and I wish to relate a little inci-
dent that is very gratifying to me. I believe that I stand before
you tonight as the first man, or rather boy, who was ever drawn
by the power of steam in the state of New Hampshire. The
circumstances were these. This was before a railroad was built
in the state or perhaps in the country, for I think the first rail-
road was built about 1830, and this must have been in 1825 or
1826. A man who had learned something of the power of
steam prepared a lecture and went about the country deliver-
ing it. I was a lad five or six years of age when he came to
Amoskeag and gave his lecture in the hall upon the other side
of the river. My family took me with them when they went to
that lecture. This man set up a little tramway across the hall,
possibly eight or ten inches in width and four or five inches
from the floor, and upon that little track or frame work,
he placed a little engine that was not more than a foot in length
perhaps, and a small box car for a passenger to ride upon. He
called for somebody to take a ride, and I remember that I re-
sponded. I stepped upon that little box car, he turned on the
74 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
steam, and it began to puff and blow, and drew me round the
hall. I think I was the first young man or boy ever drawn by
the power of steam in the state of New Hampshire.
As to the occupation of the people in this city, they were, as
I have said, mostly farmers. They depended perhaps upon the
ground for a living, but like other people, they enjoyed the
pleasure and profits of fishing at the fails.
Manchester in its earlier days bore an unsavory reputation
on account of the men who gathered about the falls. Men
came to Manchester from miles around, five, ten and fifteen
miles, to fish at Amoskeag Falls, and they would spend days
and possibly weeks fishing. I could describe their method of
fishing but I will not take the time. These men who came here
from out of town were more or less addicted to drinking, and in
this way the Manchester people acquired the reputation of be-
ing accustomed to the free use of intoxicating liquors ; hence,
the early citizens suffered from the acts of others, as men often-
times do. Most of the fishing was done in the night time.
Shad and salmon fishing were done in the day time, but the
fishing for lamper eels was mostly at night. The lamper eel
is a kind of fish that we do not see much of in these days, but
at that time the Merrimack river was full of them. These eels
had a peculiarity about them. Their mouth was such that when
they put it upon a log or stone, or anything they came in con-
tact with, they could stick there and hold themselves for an in-
definite period, with their tails flopping back and forth in the
water. These fish came up the river in the springtime in great
numbers. I remember a peculiar incident that occurred to a
man by the name of McMurphy. He came up from Derry to
fish. This man was acquainted with my father and stayed at
his house during his fishing trip ; once he went out and fished
all night. He caught a wagon load of lamper eels and was
covered with eel blood from head to foot. In the morning he
concluded that he was pretty tired and weary and instead of re-
turning directly to his home, he decided to wash up and go
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF MANCHESTER. 75
to bed and sleep awhile. About four or five o'clock in the
afternoon he came down from the chamber and, looking around
for a little while, somewhat dazed perhaps, he exclaimed to my
father, " Squire Kidder, is it possible that the sun is rising in
the west?" He had slept during the day, and being bewildered
thought the sun was just rising in the west.
The people of Manchester in those days were peculiar in
some respects. They had their means of amusement perhaps
as people did in other places, but there was one peculiarity
about them in this respect, that each and every man had a nick-
name. These names often held to them as long as they lived
and sometimes it led to some embarrassment. I remember the
nickname given to one of these eccentric men whose name was
Baker. He was called " Cud Baker" because he was a great
chewer of tobacco and used it in a very filthy kind of a way.
Then there was another man by the name of Babson, who was
perhaps as witty as any man in the town. He was called Cor-
poral Babson. How he came by his na4ne I do not know, as he
never was a military man. He and others, prompted by their
wit, got up a catechism. We all remember the old New Eng-
land primer, a small book of a religious character which con-
tained the shorter catechism. I suppose they derived the idea
from that, and they prepared this catechism, in which they intro-
duced the name of every man, and perhaps almost every woman
in the place. I have seen that in my earlier days, and I do not
know but it is in existence now. It was full of wit and wisdom.
I also remember the first menagerie or caravan of wild beasts
that ever came to town. The exhibition was given over in Bed-
ford, not in Manchester proper, and although on a small scale,
it was quite a show for those days. I also remember the first
circus which was held at Amoskeag. Although very much
smaller, and with fewer men employed than now, it embraced
many of the performances which are characteristic of the circus
of today.
I also remember something about the library. I have spoken
Ill
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF MANCHESTER. 77
before of the interest taken by the inhabitants in the matter
of education. There was early established a library in the cen-
tre of the town which was maintained several years. Eventually,
however, it was given up. There was also religious teaching as
well. Not only was there preaching in the town, but the people
supported a Sunday school. I obtained some of my early re-
ligious instruction possibly in that Sunday school. The Sunday
school was held in the country school house, nearly opposite to
Amoskeag Falls. A peculiarity about it was the method of
teaching. We learned each Sunday a certain number of verses
which were given to each scholar. I am not certain but that
was a good way to teach religious truths. There are those who
have learned in this way passages of Scripture that gave them
comfort as long as they lived and strengthened their faith in the
hour of dissolving nature. The members of the school were
obliged to pay one cent a week for privileges of the school. I
think the school was organized by the wife of the late Hon.
F. G. Stark. She was a very religious and devoted woman, and
when the boys and girls could not procure their penny to put in
the contribution box upon the Sabbath, it was arranged to have
them bring an egg and Mrs. Stark would take the egg and put
a cent into the contribution box in place of the egg the child
had brought. Following a little further along the line of re-
ligious services, Dr. Oliver Dean, who was a noble hearted man
and did a great deal for the city of Manchester by his personal
influence in about 1825, was instrumental in organizing the first
religious society in Amoskeag. Subsequently this society was
removed to this side of the river, and became the Lowell Street
Universalist church. In the early days of Manchester a Con-
gregational society was organized at the head of which stood
Dr. C. W\ Wallace, who in power for good and happy influence
was excelled by no man in this vicinity. I believe that if Dr.
Wallace had been educated in our schools as young men are
today, he would have been the leading man of the state of New
Hampshire. As it was, he had few equals and certainly no
78 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
superiors as a public speaker. When he was moved by some
local event I have heard such words of eloquence fall from his
lips as perhaps I never heard from any other man. His great
power for good in this community but few of us are able to ap
preciate.
I will detain you but a moment longer. There are other
things that I desired to say a word about, but time will not
allow. You have before you, from what I have said, something
of the character of the early men of Manchester. They were
sober men ; industrious, prudent, and patriotic, excelled by no
people in the state of New Hampshire. I believe that history
records the fact that at one time every able bodied man in the
town of Manchester was away in the army fighting the battles
of the country, thus showing the patriotic character of these
early men. I might name over family after family of noble
citizens ; and it is no wonder that Dr. Wallace, in his centen-
nial address, spoke of these men as being among the very first
of their class in this or any other country ; and we believe that
this was the true characteristic of the early inhabitants of Man-
chester. I thank you for the kind and cordial attention given
to these broken remarks.
The Water Supply of Manchester.
A PAPER BY WILLIAM B. BLAKE, READ BEFORE THE MANCHESTER
HISTORIC ASSOCIATION, SEPTEMBER fj, 1902.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
While I am not a citizen of Manchester by birth, I have been
familiar with most of its streets since a little boy, and having
lived here for the past ten years, I have taken some interest in
her growth and progress and much interest in the Manchester
Historic Association and the valuable papers which have been
presented. Like Mr. Leavitt in his paper on the old Bridge
Street Pound, I believe we should not lose sight of those land-
marks and points of interest which exist in the present but may
not in the future, and so upon request I have written a short
paper upon the springs and water supply of Manchester of to-
day, and what I have been able to learn of the springs of the
past. But before I discuss the springs and their uses, let me
correct an error in the paper of our friend, Mr. Leavitt, where
he speaks of the water of our city being taken from the muddi-
est portion of Massabesic. Surely the wat^r pumped from the
old pumping station has left the pond and entered Cohas brook,
as clean a canal as any one could ask for, where it runs for about
4,800 feet before it is received into the pumps, and then travels
one and one half miles in iron pipe to the reservoir, where
it is again forced to the air and sunlight before entering the city.
The new station takes its water from a stand pipe seven feet
from the bottom of the lake and the water does not come in
contact with the mud, as it is a gravel bottom for a radius of
1,800 feet of the stand pipe, and the water is forced through
iron pipe for a distance of five miles to the high service reser-
voir, where it again comes into contact with the air and sunlight
8o MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
before entering the city proper. The chemical analysis shows
some of the finest of municipal drinking waters, as I shall show
farther on. As to the city water being put in at the Oak Hill
hospital, better known as the pest house, to avoid too much
change when patients were carried there, I have this to say, and
I think I speak with authority, having been connected with the
Board of Health, as one of its inspectors for the past five years.
In the winter of 1900 and 1901 the city found itself with an
epidemic of smallpox, which was handled and under the im-
mediate and sole care of the Board of Health. At one time
there were fifty patients at the hospital, the ground frozen and
our only supply of water a well on the premises, which entirely
gave out, and we were obliged to hire Mr. Libby, at the City
Farm, to haul water to supply the hospital during that winter.
It was for that reason and to help the matron in charge, and also
as a partial protection against fire, that city water was placed in
the hospital, and not to avoid any change in the patient's diet
as referred to.
As to the ponds, I leave it to your good judgment whether you
prefer to have your children wading in, or inhaling the fumes
from the filthy, mosquito-breeding, death-breeding germs of
filthy pools, or running and playing on the green grass plots of
our commons as they are today, with the air perfumed by the
beds of beautiful flowers and shrubs. Let us hope that the
changes which have taken place have been for the better up-
building of our boys and girls, and may they still continue to
skate on the water of Lake Massabesic as distributed on the
commons by John Fullerton and his able corps of assistants,
rather than Mile Brook with its open channel receiving the re-
fuse and sewerage of two miles of drainage, through our most
thickly populated part of the city.
Manchester might well have been called at one time, the city
of springs, for turn which way you mighty forty years ago, the
thirsty man could have found clear, sparkling water gushing
forth from the hills and plains. But Manchester then and
THE WATER SUPPLY OF MANCHESTER.
8l
today are two vastly different cities, and some of the spring-*
which then gave forth that life-giving, health invigorating fluid
have become polluted and are, or would be, if allowed to flow,
sending forth death dealing germs which the Board of Health is
so earnestly striving to destroy. I have collected samples of
water from all the known springs that are allowed to be used today
and have the analysis of the same on file at the office. Some of
these are good and pure today and are used by hundreds of
people ; others are in use, but as shown by analysis, must
shortly be closed and their water turned into the sewers, as
they show more and more pollution as the territory surrounding
becomes populated. Such is the Hanover spring, located on
the east side of Hanover common and which supplies the foun-
tains on Elm street from Bridge street to Lake avenue and
Hanover street west of Chestnut street and the City hall cor-
ridor. This water has been constantly watched by the Board,
and it has now reached the point where it is very near if not
quite to the danger line.
Analysis of Hanover spring water stated in parts per 100,000.
DATES.
ANALYST.
FREE.
ALB.
NITRITES.
NITRATES.
CHL.
RES.
Aug. 9, 1894
Angell
.001
.002
3.70
25.42
June 18, 1895
Morse
.0034
.0046
.0002
100
2.415
22.2
May 12, 1896
Morse
.0006
.0146
.24
3.20
29.8
May 27, 1896
Morse
.001
.0044
2.98
June 10, 1896
Morse
.001
.0048
1.20
3.00
26.0
June 10, 1897
Robbins
.0016
.0024
.0002
1.10
4.00
22.4
*Aug. 21, 1901
Barnard
.0014
.0022
.0000
1.200
4.0572
*Aug. 23, 1902
Barnard
.0006
.0038
.800
3.450
Aug. 24, 1901
Barnard
.0012
.0044
.0000
1.200
3.724
Aug. 23, 1902
Barnard
.0000
.0000
.0007
.600
2.900
*City hall corridor.
All organic matter contains nitrogen, whether of vegetable
or animal origin. This nitrogen forms various combinations
which indicate conditions of the organic matter in which it occurs.
Thus, free ammonia is a product of the first stage of decompo-
sition, while albumenoid ammonia is the ammonia formed from
the organic matters present and undecomposed in the water,
82 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
but decomposed in the process of analysis as the best way of
measuring the organic matter present.
Nitrites is the second stage of the natural decomposition of
organic matter and when found with large amounts of free am-
monia it indicates decomposition going on and usually the pres-
ence of micro organisms for natural decomposition or rotting is
now known to be the work of such organisms.
Nitrates indicate that the organic matter is wholly changed
to mineral matter and is no longer in a state to support life of
micro organisms. This may be taken up by plant roots and
thus all trace of the original organic matter be removed.
Chlorine usually is present in the form of common salt, a
perfectly harmless substance, but it serves as a tell-tale to show
what sort of company the water has kept in the past. It is very
soluble and is neither decomposed nor taken up by plants. It,
therefore, stays with the water through filter-beds of earth or
anything. The amount of it in natural waters is very small but
varies with different localities though it is very constant for a
given place. Thus, in and about Manchester, it is not far
from four-tenths part per ioo,oooth. Salt is present in large
quantities in all animal dejections and if the chlorine of a water
is perceptibly above the normal for that locality, it indicates
past animal pollution. Hardness has the same indication, lime
being a part of all animal dejections and if found above the
local normal indicates animal pollution.
Then there is the spring on the West Side near the junction
of Main and McGregor streets and the Eddy road. The record
of this spring has been kept by Mr. William K. Robbins, the
clerk of the Board of Health, and chemist for the Amoskeag
Manufacturing Company. When first he tested this water there
were but few houses within a radius of one-third of a mile, and
the water was remarkably pure, but now there are houses thickly
settled nearly to its edges, and the constant building of dwellings
and the increased number of people constantly hemming it in,
has just so constantly kept the water showing more contam-
THE WATER SUPPLY OF MANCHESTER. 83
ination, until it also has come very near to the danger line, and
in a short time will have to become a thing of the past.
So it would have been with the springs of which Mr. Leavitt
speaks. Think, my friends, of drinking water from springs lo-
cated near a fill for a street and knowing that those streets were
made from street sweepings, cess-pool cleanings, and the refuse
from 60,000 people, as you know that most of our filled streets
have been made. Go to the North End where once was the old
fair ground, where our soldiers of the Civil War camped. See
the number of houses with their richly fertilized lawns and num-
berless barn cellars, and would you drink from the old spring
if there ? I think not.
But we have some springs which you may stoop down to and
drink with safety, the finest of which, according to analysis, is
known as the Stark spring, situated at the north side of our
beautiful Stark park, and which from its location will probably
remain pure for many years. Then there are two springs located
in Derryfield park which are nearly as good as the one at Stark
park. There is another at the northwest corner of Valley and
Beech streets, which is used a great deal. That is good. There
is another on the land of A. D. Gooden that supplies the family
of Capt. David Perkins at the corner of Lake avenue and Mil-
ton street, which is also very good.
In my younger days, I can remember of watering the horse at
this latter spring as we drove in from Raymond. Still another
spring of note, and which shows fine water, is the one which
supplies the watering trough about one mile this side of Gofife's
Falls. There are two other springs which have long since gone
by, and which once quenched the thirst of the hard laboring
man and many families. One was located just at the rear of
Horatio Fradd's store and the other, which was unearthed this
summer by the workmen building the new mill on the West Side
was on the land of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company.
Other springs which are now in existence, and some of them
in actual use, include the following : One at the corner of Val-
8 4
MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
ley and Elm streets, just west of Valley cemetery, one at the
south end of the gas house and just east of the Elm Street
bridge, one on land of John Porter at the south end of Jewett
street, one opposite the Kimball shoe factory and north of ceme-
tery brook on land of the Elliot Hospital, one just north of
Blood's Locomotive works, one on the east side of Canal street
opposite the Olzendam hosiery, and used for years by the em-
ployees of the bag mill, one at the northwest corner of Beech and
Summer streets, which used to be used by hundreds, but has
now been destroyed to make room for a house, one about 200
feet west of Beech street on old Park street, now Lake avenue.
All these springs have in their day done yeoman service but
have had to give way to old Massabesic, as they have grown
foul by the increase of population or the erection of buildings.
Many people will miss these cool waters, but the pride of them
all, the water which will stand by us for ages and of which we
may with safety drink freely, is the soft, clear water of Massa-
besic which flows constantly and faithfully into nearly every
household in the city. The area of this lake is 2500 acres, and
its twenty-eight miles of shore is lined with noble pines, oaks
and pretty cottages, constantly watched over by an officer of
the health board. Of the purity of this supply there can be no
doubt, as is shown by the following analysis :
DIFFERENT SPRINGS.
Aug
June
May
July
Aug.
July
26,
McGregorville Spring
McGregorville Spring
McGregorville Spring
McGregorville Spring
Stark Spring,
Derryrield Spring,
Spring, Valley and Beech
Street*, Aug
Spring, Amoskeag Reservoir
yard, Sept
Spring, Cor. Valley and Elm
Streets, Nov.
Goffs Falls Spring, Nov.
Spring, Manchester Gas
House, Nov. 23, '01
12,
26,
-'4,
26,
1.21,
. 5,
23,
23,
.0013
.0024
.0006
.0012
.0006
.0014
.0000
.0010
.0080
.0013
.0012
.0062
.0000
.0016
.0034
.0044
.0028
.0026
.0030
trace
trace
.OOCOS
.0000
.0000
.50
cq Han Sp
.60
.0170
.osoo,
.5000
.3226
1.2500
.60
1.70
1.72
2.0697
.2940
.4928
.8428
.1078
1.5876
.1470
1.803
THE WATER SUPPLY OF MANCHESTER.
ANALYSIS OF LAKE MASSABESIC WATER.
85
FREE.
ALB.
NITRI. 1 NITRA.
CHL.
High Service Intake,
Jan. 1, '97
.0042
.0114
.30
High Service Intake,
May 12, '96
.0046
.0210
.30
High Service Intake,
Aug. 16, '97
.0066
.0152
.28
High Service Intake,
Jan. 23, '02
.0054
.0204
.125
Low Service Intake,
May 12, '96
.0056
.0144
.32
Low Service Intake,
Aug. 16, '97
.0054
.0146
.30
Low Service at Bd. Health
office,
Aug. 23, '02
.0000
.0106
.175
Mouth of Brook, Auburn,
May 12, '96
.0038
.0206
.29
Mouth of Brook, Auburn,
Jan. 1, '97
.0044
.0166
.30
Mouth of Brook, Auburn,
Jan. 24, '02
.0012
.0156
.175
Front Pond, Battery Point,
May 12, '96
.0078
.0176
.31
Front Pond, Battery Point,
Aug. 16, '97
.0040
.0200
.28
Front Pond, Battery Point,
Dec. 20, '01
.0020
.0374
.120
Front Pond, Battery Point,
Jan. 24, '02
.0020
.0188
.210
Deer Neck Bog,
May 12, '96
.0042
.0058
.31
Deer Neck Bog,
Aug. 16, '97
.0100
.0210
.30
Deer Neck Bog,
Jan. 23, '02
.0044
.0228
.160
City Faucet,
May 12, '96
.0048
.0132
.31
Outlet,
May 12, '96
.0016
.0144
.29
Center of Back Pond,
May 12, '96
.0022
.0142
.30
Center of Front Pond,
May 12, '96
.0018
.0132
.30
Bog, north new station,
May 12, '96
.0036
.0146
.30
The Story of a Private Soldier in the Revolution
AN ADDRESS BY JOHN FOSTER, DELIVERED BEFORE THE MANCHES-
TER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION, JUNE 1 8, I902.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Historic Association: — The
morning sun of the twentieth century shines upon a magnificent
era. Civilization has made wonderful strides in the past hundred
years. The arts of war, no less than those of peace, have
reached in our minds the plane of perfection. Our armies on
the land, and our navy on the sea, are perfect in discipline and
equipment. We have an arm that has a deadly range at a dis-
tance of two and one-half miles. We have an ordinance that
will send a iooo-pound ball through an ir-inch armor plate, at
a distance of 12 miles. Our military and naval commanders are
trained in the best schools in the world, and the rank and file
are disciplined by that training. Contemplating these facts, let
us draw a comparison.
Let us turn from the conditions of today, back to the situation
of a century and a quarter ago. From the drilled and skilied
professional soldier, to the untrained yeomen of 1775, who stood
behind those clumsy flintlock muskets, grimly waiting the ap-
proach of the best drilled soldiers of Europe.
History tells us much of brave deeds of commanding officers,
of how they fought and won ; but of the sturdy fellows who stood
behind the guns, poorly paid, miserably fed, and scantily
equipped, and fought through that dreary period of seven years,
we have left but little individual record.
It is of one, who as a private soldier in the Revolution, bore
an honorable part, that I wish to tell you tonight.
Moses Fellows, my mother's grandfather, was born in Plais-
STORY OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER IN THE REVOLUTION. 87
tow, N. H., Aug. 9, 1755. He removed to Salisbury, N. H.,
with his parents, when n years of age, and settled on a tract of
wild land on the slopes of Kearsarge mountain.
Their life was full of frontier incidents. Occasionally an Indian
scare, now and then, a bear or deer was hunted, and killed, to
replenish the larder. At the age of 18 he killed a moose on the
Kearsarge.
Under such conditions the youth developed into a young man
of rugged constitution and iron nerve, and when the news of
Lexington and Concord came up the valley of the Merrimack,
he, with eight others from Salisbury, hastened to enlist in Cap-
tain Baldwin's Company, of John Stark's Regiment, and hurried
to the scene of action.
At the Battle of Bunker Hill, Stark's command and a body of
200 Connecticut men were stationed at the rail fence, the line
extending to Mystic river. Their ammunition was limited to
twelve rounds to a man. The stern order ran along the line,
"Don't fire till you see the whites of their eyes, and then aim at
their waistbands." Thus the New Hampshire boys waited the
approach of the British regulars on the morning of June 17,
1775-
When the enemy had reached a certain point, the order to
fire was given, and the 800 men under Stark, went to work as
coolly as though they were hoeing corn on their native hills, fir-
ing slowly and deliberately, seeking to make every shot tell.
Captain Baldwin went down, but the Salisbury men fought on
till the last round had been exhausted, and Moses Fellows found
himself with a single charge of powder, and no ball left ; but
the boy from Kearsarge rammed home the powder, left the ram-
rod in the barrel, and blazed away at close range. The dis-
charge was effective, for a Redcoat was spitted by the novel
projectile.
The result of the fight at Bunker Hill, is history. Though in
fact it was gained by the British, the moral effect was a victory
for the Americans. The colonists demonstrated to themselves
8 8 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
and the world that they could fight, that they were in earnest,
and that their colors were up to stay.
After the battle, Colonel Stark's regiment was stationed at
Winter Hill, near Boston.
On the 8th of September, 1775, Moses Fellows, and one of his
Salisbury mates, secured a transfer to Captain Dearborn's Com-
pany, which was to join an expedition up the Kennebec river
through the wilderness, with Quebec as an objective point, under
Benedict Arnold.
And, as I reach the name of Arnold in this narrative, I am
constrained to diverge slightly from my topic.
Benedict Arnold — history has said little of him, but what it
has said, has been spoken in words of ignominy and shame, and
in a great measure justly.
What I have to say is this: What a dismal collapse of a
brilliant career was Arnold's downfall. He had a grievance, and
in a certain measure a just one. For reasons that have not been
fully explained, he was jumped in rank by another officer. So
was Stark, who retired from the service upon his dignity. But
instead of following Stark's example, Arnold, who might have
figured in history as the Sheridan of the Revolution, sacrificed
his honor and his name, and disappeared forever.
We return to the Quebec expedition. They went aboard the
vessel at Newburyport, on Sept. 19, 1775, an ^ sailed up the
Kennebec river, to Fort Western, now Augusta. Two women,
wives of soldiers, accompanied the expedition throughout ; a
Mrs. Greer and a Mrs. Warner. At Fort Western they disem-
barked, and took to boats with their provisions and stores, went
up the river to the Great Carrying Place, so called, where they
landed, and went 12 miles over land, to Dead river, carrying
their boats and provisions, four men bearing a barrel of flour
hung on two poles by ropes. The boats were turned bottom
up, and carried upon the men's shoulders. Thus they traveled
to the head of Dead river, through the trackless forest of Maine ;
arriving at that point, they divided their provisions, and each
STORY OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER IN THE REVOLUTION. 89
man took his share. Then they traveled five miles over the
Highlands, to a river that runs into Skedack pond, followed
down the river to the pond, went around the east and north
sides of the pond, until they came to the Chaudire river, in
Canada, the outlet of the pond. They traveled down the east
side of the river, ten or twelve days, to the French settlements,
which they reached the 9th day of November, 1775, followed
down the St. Lawrence river to Point Levi. On the 13th of
November they crossed the river, and went to the Plains of
Abraham, but not having a force strong enough to attack the
enemy, they went back up the river, eleven miles to Point Au-
trembles, and stayed there until General Montgomery came
down from Montreal, with his cannon and mortars.
During their journey through the wilderness, their provisions
were exhausted, which caused much suffering from hunger.
After their provisions were divided at the head of Dead river
many of the men were not economical with their food, conse-
quently, were soon without anything to eat. He was prudent
of his, and was fortunate enough to kill a partridge, which he
boiled, made a supper and breakfast out of the broth, carrying
the meat with him for future use. By so doing, he did not suf-
fer as much as some less prudent. The men were compelled to
dig roots, cook and eat them. An old dog that had followed
the army, was killed, and eaten by the hungry men, even to
his feet, nose and taiL
Their shoes gave out and many made moccasins out of raw
moose hide. He secured the skin off the hind legs of a moose,
and by using the joint skins for the heel of his moccasin, made
quite a comfortable article of footwear. Others made them
Indian fashion.
Before they got through the wilderness, some of the men
boiled their moose hide moccasins, ate them and drank the
broth. The last two or three days many of them had absolutely
nothing to eat.
After they reached the French settlements, they were well
90 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
treated, and everything was supplied them that the Frenchmen
could provide for so many men.
In after life, when relating his war experiences, he said, "The
French were good to the American soldiers."
On the 31st day of December, 1775, they moved down to
Quebec, starting at two o'clock in the morning, and by daylight
began the attack on the British stronghold, General Montgom-
ery, leading the attack, fell at the first fire. General Morgan,
his successor, kept up the fight, until unable to advance in the
face of such tremendous odds. He took refuge in the neigh-
boring houses, where he was finally compelled to surrender.
Arnold, on the other side of the city, was severely wounded
in his leg, while bravely fighting at the head of his troops, and
was borne to the rear. Cagtain Morgan, with sixty men, of
whom Moses Fellows was one, went to within twenty rods of the
Palace Gate, and discharged five mortars at the city. They
were fired upon from the castle, with double-headed shot. This
was about the last of the batttle. Arnold's command then re-
treated.
Smallpox broke out among the troops before the battte, and
from this cause, the little army was badly disabled.
About the middle of January, 1776, all of Arnold's men who
were not taken prisoners, left for Montreal.
On arriving there, the time for which he enlisted having ex-
pired, -he was discharged. They left with their baggage, for
Fort Chambly, where he enlisted for two and one half months,
after serving his time out. He was detained in the service four
weeks, then discharged.
He and his Salisbury comrade, John Bowen, with others,
started for home, a distance of about 500 miles ; on the journey,
someone killed a partridge ; another killed a crow; they skinned
them and put the partridge's skin on the crow's body, and ex-
changed the false partridge at the first tavern they came to, for
some rum to cheer them up.
STORY OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER IN THE REVOLUTION. 9 1
He arrived home about the first of June, 1776, having been
gone a little over a year, he resumed his labors on the farm.
In April, 1777, he re-enlisted for three years' service as
Orderly- Sergeant, in Captain Gray's Company; along with him
enlisted eight other Salisbury men, at this time.
This Company was assigned to Colonel Scammel's Regiment,
known as the Third New Hampshire, and immediately went to
Ticonderoga, where they kept garrison, until the night of the
5th of Judy following, when they evacuated the Fort, and it fell
into the hands of the British, under General Burgoyne.
From there they went to Fort Ann, and were in the battle of
the Blockhouse. From Fort Ann they went to Fort Edward,
ariving about midnight, and camped without tents. He was
taken sick there with fever and ague, and taken to the hospital
at Albany, New York.
He next joined the army at Bemis Heights, near Stillwater,
where they fortified.
On the 19th of September, 1777, about 10 ojclock in the
morning, the British army advanced to attack in three columns.
General Burgoyne commanded the centre, General Fraser, the
right, and Generals Phillips and Riedesel the left wing. Upon
the front, and flanks of the columns, hung Indians, Tories and
Canadians.
General Gates sent out Captain Morgan, with his riflemen,
and Major Dearborn with his infantry.
Captain Morgan passed unobserved, through a piece of woods,
and drove back a party of Canadians and Indians, and unex-
pectedly came upon the main body of the British troops. His
men were scattered. For a moment he was left alone, but a
shrill whistle brought his sharp shooters around him. At this
moment, Colonels Cilley and Scammel, coming to his aid with
the New Hampshire Regiments, a sharp contest ensued for a
time. Then a lull followed. The British brought up their can-
non, and the patriots, the Connecticut militia under General
Cook. At 3 o'clock p. m., the fight began with great vigor.
02 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
The patriots captured the British cannon, who, in turn, rallied
and recaptured them. This was done several times. The battle
raged with great fury, until darkness compelled the patriots to
quietly withdraw to their intrenchments. Twice during the
evening there was sharp skirmishing, and the last American did
not leave the field until n o'clock p. m. The losses in this
battle were heavy, on both sides.
The armies lay within cannon shot of each other until the 7th
of October, when the British marched out and formed in double
ranks within a mile of the American camp, and waited events.
Morgan, with his riflemen, Poor's New Hampshire brigade, and
Dearborn's Light Infantry were ordered to attack. Steadily the
New Hampshire men mounted up the slope, reciving one volley,
and then with a yell, charged for the guns. So fierce was the
fight that one piece was taken and retaken several times. The
British lines finally broke. At the second charge of the impetu-
ous Arnold, leading a part of Learned's Brigade, the British
centres gave !# way, and the Americans urged the pursuit to the
very intrenchments of the enemy.
At night, General Burgoyne evacuated a part of his intrench-
ments and the next day renewed his retreat, but being hemmed
in on all sides, he finally surrendered his army, with arms and
stores, on the 17th of October, 1777. Thus ended the battle of
Saratoga.
After this fight, they went to Fishkill, and from there, marched
to Whitemarsh, to join General Washington. From Whitemarsh
they went to Valley Forge, starting Dec. 11, 1777. It was a
long and painful march of eight days.
On reaching Valley Forge, they had to build their own hut
encampments, cutting down trees, and erecting log houses for
their winter quarters. Their sufferings at Valley Forge have
hardly been equalled in the history of any war. They were
without food, without clothes, and without fuel. Straw could
not be obtained. Soldiers who were enfeebled by hunger, be-
numbed with cold, were obliged to sleep on the bare ground.
STORY OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER IN THE REVOLUTION. 93
Sickness followed, and within three weeks 2000 men were unfit
for duty.
While Washington was walking with a distinguished foreign
officer one day along the streets, among the huts, they heard
voices through the open crevices between the logs, saying, "No
pay, no clothes, no medicine, no food, no rum."
Meat was not seen for weeks at a time, and frequently when
it did appear, the rib bones would be round, indicating "horse
beef." The terrible hardships at Valley Forge caused the death
of four men in Captain Gray's Company, who enlisted from
Salisbury when he did. Their names were: Ephraim Heath,
Reuben Greeley, Philip Lufkins, and William Bayley.
They died in March and April, 1778.
Early in February, 1778, Baron Steuben arrived in camp, and
was received with great enthusiasm. He soon had the army
drilling under his supervision. He was very particular in every
detail, himself inspecting each soldier's musket and accoutre-
ments. He was obliged to use an interpreter to explain what
he wanted to do, or have done. When things did not go to suit
him he would swear in the French, German and Russian lan-
guages, all at once, to the no slight amusement of the soldiers.
Towards spring a new quartermaster was appointed, in the
person of General Greene, and he soon changed the condition
of affairs. Provisions began to appear in camp, and the half-
starved soldiers, when well fed, wore a smile. Everything began
to improve, and the men began to tell stories and crack jokes.
The American army left Valley Forge, crossed the Delaware
river, and was ordered to pursue the enemy in the Jerseys. On
the 27th of June, 1778, his detachment was ordered to Mon-
mouth, and the next day, the 28th, a hot and sultry morning,
they met the enemy, and a severe engagement was fought, with
indecisive results. In the midst of the battle he saw a British
officer with a horse. He took possession of them, conducted
them to the rear, and delivered the officer to the proper guards,
and eventually sold the horse for $40.00.
94 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
Many men died from the effects of the heat alone, during the
battle, the mercury standing at 96 above zero, in the shade.
A few days after the Battle of Monmouth, they were ordered
to White Plains. They moved very slowly, it being very warm,
and numbers died from the heat on the march. Some of the
men were so thirsty that when they came to a well or spring of
water, they drank so much they died almost instantly. He
drank sparingly until his thirst was quenched.
While at White Plains he was taken sick, and removed to the
hospital at Tarrytown. After his recovery he returned to his
regiment, which soon went into winter quarters at Middlebrook,
New Jersey.
In the spring of 1779 his regiment was assigned to General
Sullivan's army, under orders to march against the Indians in
the western part of New York, to avenge the Wyoming and
Cherry Valley massacres. This expedition was planned and
ordered by General Washington.
It was late in August when they started from Wyoming, Penn-
sylvania, going northward, up the Susquehanna river, drawing
their stores and artillery up the river in 150 boats. At Tioga,
New York, they were joined by General Clinton, with 1000 New
York troops, who had marched from Albany, up the Mohawk
river and Canajoharie creek, to Otsego lake ; thence down the
Susquehana to Tioga.
The result of this expedition was almost the total annihila-
tion of the Six Nations ; their homes and crops were destroyed j
many of their braves were slain, and whole tribes were scattered.
After they returned from this campaign they went into quar-
ters at Morristown, New Jersey, where they suffered nearly, if
not quite, as much as they did at Valley Forge.
The lack of bread, meat and clothes, formed the burden of
their story. They went thirty-six days on half rations, and less.
The Continental money was so depreciated that $40.00 in
bills was worth only $1.00 in silver. A soldier's pay for six
months would hardly buy a dinner. A pair of boots cost $600.00
STORY OF A PRIVATE SOLDIER IN THE REVOLUTION. 95
in bills, and a glass of rum, when it could be found at all, could
not be purchased for less than $25.00. Washington was forced
to make requsition upon the surrounding country, for food and
raiment for his men. The farmers voluntarily sent in provisions,
shoes, coats and blankets, while the women, ever loyal, met to-
gether to knit stockings and sew garments for the needy troops.
Spring came at last, and the time for which he enlisted having
expired, he was honorabiy discharged as an Orderly-Sergeant ,
at West Point, on the 20th day of April, 1780, and returned to
his home at Salisbury.
Upon his discharge, the orders were to turn in to the Govern-
ment all arms that passed inspection. Moses Fellows hated to
part with his dear old gun, which he had carried for five years'
and so it happened that when the inspecting officer came around
to examine his weapons the lock of his gun was missing, but
after the officer had passed on, it was fortunately discovered in
the tail of his coat.
During his long life after the war, the old gun occupied a
conspicuous position, hanging on hooks, over the fireplace, in
his Salisbury home, and is now preserved as a much-treasured
relic by one of his descendants. (His name further appears in
the records of Salisbury, as enlisting again in the spring of 1780,
and again the record says he enlisted in November, 1781, for
three years' service, and his name was returned to Colonel
Stickney. These enlistments might have been as minute man,
or home guard, but after his discharge in 1780, he did not return
to active service.)
After retiring from the army he gave his attention to clearing
and developing the farm, where he lived, until his death. After
March 4,1831, he drew a pension from the Government of $100.00
a year, until his decease, which occurred Jan, 30, 1846, aged 90
years, 5 months and 21 days. In his declining years it was a
pleasure for him to meet his old comrades in arms, around his
fireside, and talk over the scenes of army life, and the children
of the neighborhood would gather around the old man, and learn
g6 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
from him, lessons of patriotism, as illustrated by his stirring ex-
periences in the past. Before their eager, wondering eyes, he
would develop his old campaigns; he would don his faded Con-
tinental regalia, and explain the manual of army drill as taught
him by Baron Steuben sixty years before : with a trail of lighted
powder he would illustrate the blaze of Continental fire, which
met the Red Coats at Bunker Hill, and the young lads, some
of whom were to act in similar scenes at Little Round Top and
Cemetery Ridge, would raise a boyish cheer for the brave old
veteran.
He lies buried in the old cemetery, at Salisbury South Road,
and a substantial granite monument, recently erected by his de
scendants, marks his honored grave.
I have given you the story of one who bore an humble
but honorable part in the struggle which fixed the destiny of a
mighty nation. Imperfect, and inaccurate, in a measure, no
doubt, for it has been handed down, without authentic record^
through four generations, but I have desired to do it, so far as
able, to the end that in some century to come, when some other
Gilmore, or Gould, or Brown, may be poring over the musty
records of an ancient, and long since defunct Historical Society?
they may find there in the catacombs of a remote period, the story
of a private soldier in the American Revolution. I believe sin-
cerely in the aim of this Association : That we should perpetu
ate the record of those who have aided in building the substan-
tial structure of our great Republic, that we should profit from
their stern example.
"Remembering still the rugged road our venerable fathers trod.
When they, through toil and danger pressed, to gain their glorious
bequest,
And from each lip, the watchword fell,
To those who followed,— GUARD IT WELL."
The Two James Rogers.
WRITTEN BY THE LATE HON. JOSIAH H. DRUMMOND, PORTLAND,
ME., AND REPRINTED FROM A PAMPHLET PUBLISHED
BY S. C. GOULD, IN 1 897, WITH NOTES AND
REVISION BY THE AUTHOR.
It has been quite generally assumed that James Rogers, who
was one of the earliest settlers of Londonderry, was the same
man as James Rogers, who was one of the earliest settlers of
Dunbarton and the father of Col. Robert Rogers "the Ranger;"
but the records show the contrary. It is the purpose of this
article to give so much of the history of each as to show that
there were two of the same name and give some account of
their families.
I. JAMES ROGERS OF LONDONDERRY.
Among the Scotch Irish (i) who in 1717 petitioned for a
plantation in New Hampshire, were Hugh and James Rogers.
This petition being denied, John Wheelwright, Oct. 20, 17 19,
gave the Scotch-Irish a deed of a tract of land ten miles square,
called Nutneld.
One half a lot was laid out to James Rogers, July 14, 1721,
with an interest in the undivided lands. William Campbell
sold to James Rogers of Billerica thirty acres of land in Nut-
field, March 8, J721 2. (Bk. 17, p. 316.)
On June 21, 1722, the State granted to John Moore and
others (subject to the claims of the Province of Massachusetts
Bay and those claiming under that authority) one hundred and
sixteen shares to persons named in a schedule annexed, (with
850 shares additional to some of them), and on the same day
the proprietors admitted eight others with one share each, and
granted to Gov. Shute and Gov. Wentworth a house lot and
500 acres each. This grant is known as the charter of London-
derry.
98 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
In this schedule, James Rogers is put down for one half a
share, and "Wm. Cambel" for one share ; but Hugh Rogers is
not named. (N. H. State Papers, Vol. XXV, pp. 272 277.)
I give memoranda of deeds showing the continuous residence
of James Rogers in Londonderry up to the time of his death.
July 20, 1727, James Rogers of Londonderry conveyed to
James Calderwood half a lot of land in Londonderry, and his
wife joins to release dower.
James Rogers of Londonderry and Jean, his wife (but she
did not sign) are named in deed dated Oct. 10, 1732, as con-
veying to William Dickey land in Londonderry described as
"part of mendment and addition lands" * * "and one-
half of meadow land laid out to James Rogers and James Gil-
more." (Book 19. p. 1.)
And on the fifteenth of the next January, he conveyed one
half of the Leverett meadow in Londonderry. ( Book 19, p. 260.)
By deed dated Dec. 30, 1736, James Rogers of Londonderry,
yeoman, conveyed to Samuel Allison, land in L., "being part of
a larger tract of land laid out to me as a proprietor of said
Londonderry." His wife, Jean, joined to release dower.
Other deeds of James Rogers of Londonderry , in several of
which his wife, Jean, joined are dated Dec 21, 1739, i^Bk. 42,
p. 330); July 3r, 1749, (Bk. 39, p. 260); July 31, 1749, (Bk.
39, p. 261) ; April 4, 1749, (Bk. 46, p. 128); Aug. 3, 1749, (Bk.
38, p. 283); and May 24, 1751. ("being part of my second
division mendment and addition"), (Bk. 39, p. 251).
On Feb'y 3, 1 746-7, James Lindsay, blacksmith, of London-
derry, (his wife Margaret joining to release dower) conveyed to
James Rogers of L., yeoman, all rights in common lands as
proprietor. ( Bk. 34, p. 117).
[In 1722 schedule, James Lindsay is credited with one share.]
July 23, 175 1, Abraham Cochran conveyed to James Rogers
of Londonderry land in L., "laid out to the right of Henry
Greene" (who had one share in 1722). (Bk. 38, p. 467.)
James Rogers of Londonderry conveyed to Thomas Burnside
sixty-three acres of land in L. This deed was dated Dec. 2,
THE TWO JAMES ROGERS 99
1754, but was not acknowledged till Sept. 17, 1755, tw0 days
after the date of his will, five days before his own death and
twelve days after the death of his wife. (Bk. 47, p. 206.)
James Rogers of Londonderry took the oath of allegiance in
1727 ; signed the "Proposals for Peace" in the famous church
dissension in 1737, and served on various committees in town
affairs.
The surname of his wife is not known ; she died Sept. 5,
1755, aged 62, and he, Sept. 22, 1 755, aged 69 ; his older brother,
Hugh (2) survived him, dying March 4, 1763, aged 80, and his
wife (also named Jean) Feb'y 28, 1756, aged 63.
The children of James and Jean Rogers, as given in the Lon-
donderry record, were :
2. Martha 2 , b. May 3, 1723 ; m. Robert McClure.
3. Thomas 2 , b. July 7, 1724.
4. William 2 , b. Sept. 15, 1726.
5. John 2 , b. June 25, 1729.
6. James 2 , b. Feb'y 22, 173 1-2; d. young.
But his will shows that he had others, viz :
7. Margaret 2 , b. ; m. Samuel Thompson.
8. Mary 2 , b. ; m. Joseph Scobey.
9. Jean 2 , b. ;m. William Morrison.
10. Esther 2 , b. ; m. Samuel Huston.
It is also quite certain that Samuel Rogers, who died July 4
1755, aged 16, and was buried near James and Jean, was their
son.
James 2 is not mentioned in the will and undoubtedly died
young.
The order in which the daughters are named in the will, in-
dicates that Margaret, Mary and Jean were older than Martha.
His will, dated September 15, 1755, gives small legacies to
several parties, and then divides the residue into eight parts,
and gives one eighth each 10 son, Thomas; son, William; son ?
John ; son, Samuel Thompson, and wife, Margaret ; son, Joseph
Scobey, and wife, Mary; son, William Morrison, and wife, Jean ;
IOO MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
son, Robert McClure, and wife, Martha ; and Esther Rogers.
(Vol. XIII, p. 406.)
On Feb'y 6, 1759, Thomas Rogers of Chester, William
Rogers, John Rogers, Samuel Thompson, Margaret Thomp-
son, Joseph Scobey, Mary Scobey, William Morrison, Jean Mor-
rison, Robert McClure, Martha McClure, Samuel Huston, and
Esther Huston, "all of Londonderry, yeomen and spinsters,"
conveyed to Hugh Gregg the half lot which James Rogers
bought of William Campbell ; and Eiizabeth Rogers, wife of
Thomas, Jeanet, wife of William, and Jean, wife of John,
join to release dower. (Bk. 100, p. 149.)
This deed shows that the "James Rogers" of Billerica to
whom Campbell conveyed was the same James Rogers who
was an original proprietor of Londonderry.
Robert McClure, who married Martha 2 , was born in Ireland
in 1718, and came to this country in his ninth year with his
father, Richard, who was a ruling Elder in Rev. Mr. Morehead's
church in Boston j they had a son, James, who married Mary
Nesmith of Londonderry, "and they were my grand parents."
(MSS. of A. B. Otis.)
Samuel Huston, who married Esther 2 (as his second wife),
was one of the original proprietors of Belfast, Maine. He moved
there in 1771, and spent the rest of his life there, dying in
1819. (Williamson's Belfast, p. 96.)
John is the only other child of James, whose family I have
even partially traced. He was well known as "Lieutenant
Rogers ;" he married Jean Ewins, daughter of James; he settled
first in Londonderry, but moved to Acworth in 1768 ; he died in
1776, of "camp fever" contracted in bringing home Robert
McClure from the continental army; his widow died in 1798.
Children born in Londonderry and Acworth :
James 3 , b. June 5, 1754.
Jonathan 3 , b.
John 3 , b.
Agnes 3 , b. ; m. Abner Gage.
Samuel 3 , b.
THE TWO JAMES ROGERS IOI
Peter 3 , b.
Baptiste 3 , b.
Susanna 3 , b. ;m. Joseph Hemphill.
Hannah 3 , b.
Elizabeth 3 , b. ; m. Stephen Thornton.
Esther 3 , b, ; m. (i) Benjamin Hobbs ;
(2) George Clark ;
(3) M. Temple.
These names are not given in the order of births.
His will (d. Nov. it, 1776, p. Jan'y 1777) mentions "deare
wife"; "two eldest daughters, Agnes and Elizabeth"; "two eld-
est sons, James and Jonathan" ; and "the rest of my children."
Administration on estate of Jean Rogers, late of Ackworth,
granted to Jonathan and John Rogers, Oct. 9, 1798.
Will of James Ewins (d. May 1, 1780, p. Aug. 29, 1781) men-
tions daughter, Jeane Rogers and her husband. John Rogers,
and gives to "grandson, John Rogers, one lot of land which I
bought in Ackworth.'' Vol. XXVI, p 170.)
James z , son of Lt. John, married, Aug. 16, 1784, Mary Mark-
ham, daughter of Joseph and Mehitable [Spencer] Markham,
born April 21, 1768; he died June 5, 1819, and she, Aug. 8,
1842.
Children born in Ackworth :
Jonathan 4 , b. Nov. 18, 1785.
John 4 , b. Dec. 21, 1786.
Joseph 4 , b. Mar. 15, 1788.
Nancy 4 , b. Feb'y 4, 1789 ;d. Feb'y 3, 1813.
Tamsen 4 , b. Jan'y 2, 1791.
Ralph 4 , b. Dec. 25, 1792.
Samuel 4 , b. Dec. 26, 1794.
Mary 4 , b. Dec. 28, 1796; d. Aug. 6, 1818.
Lucy 4 , b. Feb'y, 1798.
Drusilla 4 , b. Aug. 3. 1800 ; d. Mar. 1, 1815.
Teressa 4 , b. Mar. 11, 1803.
Ann 4 , b. June 1, 1806.
Eliza 4 , b. Sept. 1, 1808.
102 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
Jonathan 2 , son of Lc. John, married twice: (i) Polly Maes,
by whom he had Polly 4 j (2) Elizabeth Rogers (?), by whom he
had Maes 4 , Ephraim 4 , Nancy 4 , and Alvah 4 .
John 2 , son of Lt. John, married Polly, daughter of Diniel
Reynolds; he is said to have moved to Lempster, but died in
Lexington, Mass., Sept. 2, 1832 ; they had Daniel 4 id. young),
Maria 4 , Hannah Ophelia 4 , John Adams 4 , Eliza Jane 4 , (d.
young) , Melvina Bardwell 4 , Stephen Reynolds 4 (b. Jan'y 24^
1813), Susan Hemphill 4 (b. Feb'y 28, 1814), Harriet Eliza 4 ,
and Daniel 4 (d. young.)
Samuel 2 , son of Lt. John, is said to have married Anna
Dodge of Syracuse, N. Y., and that he died there, leaving one
son, Charles.
II. JAMES ROGERS OF DUNBARTON.
The first mention which I find of this James Rogers (and it
is sufficient for the main purpose of this paper) is in the deed
by which Zaccheus Lovewell of Nottingham conveyed, Novem-
ber 24, 1738, to James Rogers of Methuen, Mass , husbandman,
land on westeily side of Suncook township, part of grant to said
Lovewell and others, soldiers under Capt. John Lovewell. (Bk.
38, p. 20.)
This grant was made by Massachusetts, June 19, 1735, to
Capt. John Gorham's men, and was called Gorhamtown.
James Rogers in 1739, moved with his family to this lot and
lived there till April, 1748, when he was driven away by the
Indians and his improvements destroyed.
Later in 1748, Rev. David McGregor, John Stark, Archibald
Stark and three others of "Amos Ceeg," thirty-three others of
Londonderry, (among whom were James Rogers, Joseph Scobey
and Matthew Thornton), six others of Chester, six of Haver-
hill, two of Kingston, and eight of Litchfield petitioned the
Masonian Proprietors for the grant of a township, six miles
square.
(N. H. State papers. Vol. XXV. p. 187.)
On the eighth of October, 1748, these petitioners were author-
THE TWO JAMES ROGERS 103
ized to make a survey, but on the twelfth they were notified
that their grant must be second to that of John Goffe. {Ibid,
p. 188.)
On the twenty sixth of the same month, James Rogers, "now
resident in Bow," and James Pudney, now resident in Peni-
cook," by their Attorney, represented to the Proprietors, that
whereas said James Rogers, and six sons, David, Samuel,
James, Robert, Richard and John, the said Joseph and six
sons, John, Joseph, William, Henry, Asa, and Obadiah, had
purchased a lot of land, 2190 acres, and had improved jointly
about 98 acres of meadow and about 100 acres of up land and
"had two dwelling-houses, two barns and two orchards," the
houses "built about nine years past": and that "in April last
ye Indians burnt and destroyed said houses and barns and cut
down ye orchards, and killed a heifer and a steer belonging
to said James Rogers," etc., "wherefore (referring to deed from
Lovewell) they prayed to be included as fourteen persons
among the grantees and the 2190 acres assigned to them as
their full share." (Ibid.)
However, others claimed a part of the 2190 acres, claimed by
Rogers and Pudney. (Ibid, 192.)
On Dec. 17, 1748, the Proprietors granted a township to the
petitioners, among them :
James Rogers of Londonderry, who had No. 10, R. 4, and
the north half of No. 1, in the same range.
James Rogers of Bow, who had No. 7, R. 6, and the north
half of No. 6, R. 5.
Joseph Pudney of Pennicook, who had No. 6, R. 6, and the
north half of No. 6, R. 5.
"And the eldest sons of said Joseph Pudney and James
Rogers, both one share equally," and they had No. 8, R. 6, and
the south half of No. 8, R. 5. (Ibid, pp. 198-208.)
Some of the grantees having forfeited their shares, the tract
was regranted March 2, 1752, among others to James Rugers
of Londonderry * * * * and "to Joseph
Pudney, James Rogers and their eldest sons for one right, all
104 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
living on the tract of land hereby granted," etc. {Ibid, p. 205.)
On Jan'y 1, 1748-9, James Rogers of Londonderry conveyed
to James McGregor all his right in this township. (Bk. 38,
P. '75-)
On June 10, 1752, Joseph Pudney of Starkstown conveyed to
James Rogers of Starkstown his one-half of lot 6, R. 5 ; and by
another deed on the same day "all our possessions" (described
in detail). (Bk. 43, pp. 124 125.)
And on the >ame day Rogers conveyed land in Starkstown to
Pudney. (Bk. 41, p. 477.)
On April 7, 1852, Matthew Thornton of Londonderry, and
on the next day James Ewins of L. conveyed land in Starks-
town to 'James Rodgers of Starkstown."
As James Rodgers went from Methuen, Mass., in 1739, to
Starkstown (now Dunbarton) with his six sons, it is quite prob-
able that his children, or some of them, were born in Methuen.
He lived in S. till his death, except about a year when he lived
in Bow. He was accidentally shot and killed late in 1752, or
early in 1753 ; his widow, Mary, was appointed administratrix
on his estate, June 25, 1753, (Vol. XIII, p. 67.)
Their children were Daniel, Samuel, James, Robert, Richard,
John and Catherine, (3).
Daniel removed to Dunbarton ; he was appointed chairman
of a committee of the proprietors, Dec. 29, 1773.
Samuel settled in Bow, ahout 1758.
Robert was the celebrated "Ranger," who did great service in
the French and Indian war ; in the Revolution he became a
loyalist and went to England in 1777 ; in 1778, he was banished
from New Hampshire by an act of the Legislature ; and on
Mar. 4, 1778, his wife was divorced from him by the same
authority; he died in England about 1800 ;* his son Arthur (his
only child as far as I have ascertained) "lived with his mother
many years on the family farm near Concord," and died in
Portsmouth, in 1841. In a deed dated in 1754, Robert is de-
*Major Rogers doubtless died several years before that date, probably in 1784-
See "Roger's Ranger and Loyalist," by Walter Rogers, Esq., London. The Editor.
THE TWO JAMES ROGERS 105
scribed as of Merrimack, and in one in 1762 as of Portsmouth.
Richard was also in the "Ranger" service ; he was First Lieu-
tenant under his brother Robert in 1756, and was sent to Bos-
ton with despatches ; later in the same year, Richard was ap-
pointed Captain of a second company of Rangers, which did
efficient service during that fall and winter ; he was later
stationed at Fort William Henry and died there of small-pox a
few days betore it was attacked by the French and Indians ; his
brother (Major Robert) in his diary says, that after the capture
of the Fort, Richard's body was dug up and scalped.
jfames was also in the service as a "Ranger;" he was Ensign
in one of the new companies formed in 1756 ; was in the famous
expedition to Fort George, in Jan'y, 1757, under Major Robert,
his brother ; was promoted to a captaincy, and in a letter, dated
in 1775, Major Robert speaks of him as "Colonel."
Deeds (B 59, p. 486, and B. 61, p. 547) show that in 1760
and 1761, he was at Starkstown; but May 6, 1760, he purchased
land in Londonderry (B. 61, p. 549) and soon moved there, for
in deeds dated March 24, 1762, and July 7, 1762, he is described
as of Londonderry. (B. 64, pp. 502-529.)
And on Dec. 10, 1762, James Rogers of Londonderry con-
veyed to Robert Rogers of Portsmouth, land in Suncook con-
veyed to James Rogers of Starktown by Abraham Kimball, by
deed dated March 2, 1761, and recorded in Book 61, p. 547.
(B. 70, p. 311.)
He married Margaret, daughter of Rev. David McGregor, and
had born in Londonderry (as shown by the records) :
David, b. Nov. 7, 1762 \ d. Nov. 2, 1766.
James, b. Nov. 22, 1764 ; d. young. (4).
Whether he had other children or not I have not ascertained.
He is said to have moved to Kent, now Londonderry, Ver-
mont, in 1774. I have given this detailed account of James
Rogers because it has been assumed that he belonged to the
Londonderry family.
There is no occasion to recapitulate the evidence to satisfy
the reader that the original James Rogers of Londonderry and
Io6 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
the first James Rogers of Starktown (Dunbarton) were two dif-
ferent men.
NOTES.
1. Page 97. The terra "Scotch-Irish" has of late been objected to very vehemently;
but it has been in use so long and to such an extent with a well-understood meaning,
that it is too late to object to it; the objectors seem to forget that the people make
words and give them their meaning and that the sole office of the dictionary-maker is
simply to record what the people have done in this respect. As early as 1708, in the
record of Glasgow University, Rev. Robert Rutherford is styled a •'Scotch-Irishman"
2 Page 9t>. I have no evidence that Hugh was the brother of James, except
circumstantial.
3. Page 104. Since the first publication of this article, 1 have had correspondence
with Dr. Edmund J. A. Rogers of Colorado, a descendant of James 1, of Dunbarton'
through James, 2, and born on the homestead established by the latter in Ontario'
who says that the first James Rogers of Dunbarton and his wife, Mary McPhartridge
had two daughters in addition to those given by me, Mary who married James Blair,
and Martha, who married John Miller. He says further that Daniel went to sea and
was drowned off Cuba, leaving a family in New Hampshire, and that Catherine mar-
ried Frank Miller.
I also find a deed on record in Hillsborough County (Book 21, p. 342) dated April
16, 1787, by which David, Robert, James and Alexander Blair, all of Londonderry,
conveyed all their interest in the estate of their grandfather, James Rogers of
Dunbarton.
4. Page 105. These two children of James and Margaret [McGregor] Rogers died
young, but they had at least one other son, David McGiegor Rogers, born about 1771,
who died in 1824, aged 53, whose tombstone is still standing on the homestead in
Ontario.
Col. James removed to Vermont before 1770, and lived thereuntil 1784, when he
moved to Fredericksburgh, Ontario, which had been allotted to him and the loyalists
under his command, where he settled and spent the remainder of his life, dying in
1792. He was succeeded by his son, David McGregor Rogers, who represented his
district twenty-four years in the Assembly of Upper Canada.
I am indebted also to Dr. Rogers for a pamphlet containing an article prepared by
his brother, Walter Rogers, Esq., Barrister of the Queen's Temple, London, England,
published in the Transactions of the Roger Society of Canada, and also published
separately.
/Ov /^jX^Xyi^yt^ULA^O-X^^C^^
Josiah H. Drummond.
Hon. Josiah Hayden
Drummond, LL. D., the
author of the preceding
article, "The Two James
Rogers," which imparts
certain facts not known
to previous historians re-
garding one of the most
important of the early
families in this vicinity,
was born in Winslow,
Me., August 30, 1827,
and died very suddenly
of heart trouble in Port-
land, October 25, 1902.
He was educated in the
Waterville College, now
Colby University, gradu-
ating in 1846 at the age of nineteen. He taught school in dif-
ferent towns, and studied law with Hon. Timothy Boutelle of
Waterville, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. After taking
a trip to California, he began the practice of law in Waterville,
where he remained until he removed to Portland in i860, en-
tering upon a practice here which became extensive and lucra-
tive. Meanwhile he had become prominent in politics, and
serving as city solicitor, he was elected to the state legislature
in 1857, from which body he was chosen speaker. In i860 he
was elected to the state senate, but resigned before he had com-
pleted his term of office that he might accept the position of
Attorney General. He held this office for four years. He was
a delegate to the Republican National Conventions in 1864,
108 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
1876, 1884. In 1865 ne was chosen a director of the Maine
Central Railroad, which position he held until his death, and
since 1876 he was director and general counsellor of the Union
Mutual Life Insurance Company, giving much of his time to
perfecting the work of this association. His Alma Maier, in
187 1, conferred npon him the degree of LL. D.
Besides becoming prominent in legal and political circles he
became one of America's most widely known Masons, attaining
possibly greater Masonic distinction than any other man. Ever
wielding a fluent and incisive pen he won for himself a place in
the front ranks of the writers of the order, and was acknowl-
edged to be the greatest living authority on Masonry. To
enumerate his Masonic honors would be to name nearly every
title known to the craft, for "since the Deacon's rod was placed
in his hands he has never been free from office."
He was an industrious collector of books, not only those per-
taining to his cherished order, but his library was filled with
works upon history and genealogy. In this field he showed the
same faithfulness and painstaking care that he did in the
others, and his writings have proved both accurate and com-
plete. Among his works of this nature may be mentioned
"John Rogers of Marshfield," "John Rogers of Plymouth," and
"The Descendants of John Bean of Exeter," besides many
others, not the least among which is "The Two James Rogers,"
written a few years since for Gould's Notes and Queries, and
from which we republish it with the author's revisions and notes.
The Masonic Journal in summing up his character says :
"He was an eminent citizen, a distinguished member of the
bar, an active politician ; he was more — he was better than a
lawyer, better than a politician ; he was a born leader. There
was to his life a fullness and completeness seldom seen ; he held
high official positions, and might have held more ; twice he de
clined a seat on the Supreme bench and once a nomination of
candidate for governor of the state, when the nomination was
equivalent to election, but he chose to pass them by, preferring
the practice of his profession, in which he stood in the front
JOSIAH H. DRUMMOND 109
rank. His disposition was destitute of vindictiveness and in-
capable of malice. His life was devoted to the work of making
others happy. His home life was especially beautiful ; in the
bonds of sincere affection all of his household were united in
seeking, not only to be happy, but to contribute happiness.
His golden wedding was celebrated December 10, 1900. The
celebration did not, however, differ materially from the preced-
ing anniversaries, for it had been his invariable custom to de-
vote the 10th day of December to his family, making no ap-
pointments that would prevent his so doing. He had a rule
"not to carry shop to his home," and the happiest moment of
his office hours was the time for gathering the accumulated
Masonic, genealogic and social correspondence of the day into
a bundle for evening consideration. The number of his parcels
was usually increased by a call at the confectioner's on his way
home, where at his table near the east window of the living
room, he found that rest of mind that comes from change of
labor. His evenings were usually spent at home, never in idle-
ness, but occupied in solving some intricate mathematical prob-
lem, genealogic compilation or Masonic correspondence, ever,
apparently, cheerfully willing to lay all aside for a game of whist
with the children or to entertain a visitor. His versatility was
so great that interruption never appeared to be an annoyance."
The funeral services, which were both religious and Masonic,
were held at the ancient First Parish Church of Portland, and
his body was borne to its final resting place in Evergreen Ceme-
tery of that city under conditions both fitting and impressive.
"The good deeds left behind him
Will form a chain to bind him
To us who linger here."
G. W. BROWNE.
Derryfleld in the Revolution.
A PAPER BY G. WALDO BROWNE, READ BEFORE THE MANCHESTER
HISTORIC ASSOCIATION, MARCH IQ, I902.
If difference in religious beliefs had divided the early inhab
itantsof Derryfleld and made them anything but peaceful neigh-
bors, there was no lack of harmony shown upon the question
of their civil liberty. Scotch Presbyterian and English Puritan
had alike suffered at the hands of the aggressive Royalists, and
each had been driven from his native land to seek in the wilder
ness of New England that long-sought privilege of living ac-
cording to the rigid doctrines of his theological teacher. Some-
thing of the irony of fate may have been felt by them in unex-
pectedly meeting in the new world the stern, combatative ele
ments of a rival denomination, but future generations were to
prove that it was the divine working of that same mysterious
Providence which had guided them to this shore. The happy
combination of the rugged traits possessed by them has pro-
duced a race that has been a most important factor in the mak-
ing of the history of the foremost country of the twentieth
century.
However bitter personal controversies may have risen they
did not blind them to the menace of common danger, and each
from his standpoint watched with a zealous eye the steady en-
croachments of his universal rights by the oppressive sovereign
of a government that had never known what opposition really
meant. Derryfleld, without any disunion of sentiment, was among
the first towns in the province to vote to help carry on the cost
of preparing to meet the enemy hand to hand should the worst
come.
At a special meeting held January 16, 1775, the town voted
unanimously to raise "their equal propoicion of money that shall
DERRYFIELD IN THE REVOLUTION III
hereafter arise towards paying the cost of the General Court as
aney other town in the Province." It is difficult to see what
more Derryfield could do. The 15th of the following May it
was voted to send a man to the convention to be held the 17th.
At the same meeting it was voted that Captain Alexander Mac-
Murphy, Lieutenant James McCalley, Ensign Samuel Moore,
Eleazer Stevens and John Perham be a "commetty in behalf of
us." This committee was the original of the Committees of
Safety that soon followed.
When the crisis came, suddenly and prematurely, the men of
Derryfield quickly proved that they were as faithful and prompt
to act as they had been to promise, and the echoes of the guns
at Lexington had not ceased their reverberations up and down
the valleys of the Granite hills before they were on the march
to cope with the invaders. Stark left the mill log on its car-
riage and seizing his musket and powder horn, without stopping
to put on his coat, started for the scene of war. Robert Mc-
Knight left his ax sticking in the body of the tree he was felling
and barely stopping to bid his loved ones good bye hastened to
the defence of his country. Another, whose identity is not
plain in the mixed accounts of the exciting times, unyoked his
oxen in the road and followed on the heels of Stark. Others at
work in their clearings, about their homes or wherever their
duties had called them, immediately gave up all else and joined
in this grand rally to help drive from the land the foes of liberty.
The latest official record at the time credited Derryfield with
thirty-six able bodied men, and of that number only two re-
mained behind with the old men and decrepit ones to look after
affairs at home. The history of the Granite State is a proud
one, but she has not a town which can match this record. It is
a pity the names of these patriots have not been preserved, ex-
cept as they are to be found on the tax list for that year, and
which is copied from the records, vol. 1, page 284, as follows :
TAX-PAYERS IN DERRYFIELD FOR 1 775~ 6.
Conl. John Goffe, John Yand, Esqr.
Maj. John Moors, Ensin. Samuel Moors,
112
MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS
James McKnight,
Capt.
Nathaniel Merton,
William Nutt,
timothy Mertion,
John Griffen,
John Griffen, Junr.
Benjemin Baker,
Benjemin Baker, Junr.
Johnathan Merrell.
Jesse Baker,
Joseph Gorge,
Abrham Merrell,
Abrham Merrell, Junr.,
David Merrell,
Jospeh Griffen,
Ezekiel Stavens,
Joseph farmer,
Isaac farmer,
Widov
v Sarah Russ,
Robert Clark,
John Reay,
Conl.
John Stark,
David farmer,
Levt.
James McCalley,
Ensin.
Samuel Stark,
Robert McNight,
David McNight,
Daniel Blodget,
Joshua Blodget,
Litchfield,
Litchfield
>
John Parham,
Capt.
William Parham,
John Parham,
Ebenezer Coster,
Charles Eamerson,
Charles Eamerson, Junr
Gorge Eamerson,
John Harvey.
William Parham, Junr.
Micheal Mc Clintock,
James Pairces,
Capt.
Alexander me Murphey
i
Benjmen Crombie,
Moses Crombie,
Ensin.
Samuel Boyd,
Ensin.
Nathaniel Boyd,
Widow Margret Boyd,
John Dickey,
William Gemble,
Robert Cuningham,
David Starret,
John Hall,
Daniel Hall,
Sergt.
Ebnezer Stivns,
Hugh thompson,
Benjmen Pilsbury,
thomas Numan,
Josep Masten,
James Lagon,
Bakerstown,
i
Londonderry,
Robrt mc Clouer.
Alexander Irwing,
Londonderry,
Joseph Geor-e Select
Ceaser Griffen,
Samuel Stark Men.
Recorded this 24th day of Decemher, 1775.
JOHN HALL, Town Clerk.
DERRYFIELD IN THE REVOLUTION I 13
An analysis of this list shows that of the 64 names five were
those of non-residents, and two of women, leaving 57 tax payers,
many of whom must have been old men and those who were un-
fitted by disability to bear arms.
Of the thirty four men who rushed to the front at the first alarm
twenty-three participated in the battle of Bunker Hill under
Stark in Captain John Moore's company which was made up
principally of men from Derryfield, Bedford and Londonderry
It is one of the singular records of war that though in the thick-
est of the fight not one was killed. As a witness of the stern
work they did on that memorable day ninety-six of the enemy
were found dead or disabled on the battlefield in front of their
position.
During the cessation of hostilities which succeeded this san-
guinary battle about half of these men returned to their homes,
but it proved even then not enough of the town officers were
present to transact business. At a special meeting on August
11, two selectmen, David Starrett and Samuel Stark, were
chosen 'in room of those gone to the war." At the same meet-
ing it was voted not to send a delegate to the congress at Exe-
ter. The report of the selectmen to the Committee on Safety
made in September of that year shows that there were still six-
teen men in the army. These, says Potter, were doubtless at
Winter's Hill There were twenty firelocks in town at the time,
but no ammunition. The report adds, "There is 20 more men
in Said Town fit to Bare Arms."
June 1, 1776, every man in Derryfield able to perform mil-
itary duty signed the declaration of fidelity to the cause of the
colonists demanded by the Committee of Safety, while at this
time the following men were in the army : Colonel John Stark,
Captain John Moore, Captain James McCalley, Captain Alex-
ander MacMurphy, Captain Nathaniel Martin, Nathaniel Baker,
Timothy Dow, Benjamin Baker, Samuel Harvey and Ebeneezer
Costa. Colonel Stark was with his regiment on the expedition
to Canada, and following the retreat of this disastrous cam-
paign, General Gates placed him at the head of a brigade.
114 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS
Soon after he was ordered to join Washington in Philadelphia
with his regiment. There he was assigned to Sullivan's divi
sion and in the battles of Trenton and Princeton, as they had at
Bunker Hill, it was the men of the Merrimack valley who bore
the brunt of battle and won more than their share of the results,
and foremost among them were the sons of Derryfield. General
Sullivan in a letter to Hon. Mesech Weare, Chairman of the
Committee on Safety, said : "Believe me, sir, the Yankees
took Trenton before the other troops knew anything of the mat-
ter !" The Derryfield soldiers belonged to the company of
Capt. Eben Frye of Pembroke, but were assigned to the com-
mand of Sergt. Ephraim Stevens of this town, under whose lead
a mere handful of sixteen men captured sixty Hessians and
marched them triumphantly to headquarters.
In the necessity of obtaining more men for the colonial ser-
vice immediately after the battle of Princeton Stark returned to
New Hampshire to recruit another regiment from a field already
so closely culled that only he could have succeeded. But in
the midst of his heroic efforts his enemies were at work against
him and the trouble followed which caused him to leave the
army and retire to his home at Amoskeag, until at the urgent
request of his friends and fellow patriots he consented to lead
our troops in the rescue at Bennington. These scenes have
been so fully described in the life sketch of Siark and the bat-
tle of Bennington given elsewhere in these collections that it is
/lot necessary to enter into the details here. The biography of
John Stark and the history of Derryfield for those years are
very closely interwoven.
While her soldiers were battling at the front so manfully for
the cause of independence, those at home were having scarcely
less serious efforts toward help carrying on the war. Relative
to the matter of bounty for soldiers the records show the follow-
ing warrant and action in regard to the same :
"These are to notify and warn all the inhabitants of the town
of Derryfield lawfully qualified to vote in Town Meetings to as-
semble and meet at the meeting house in said Derryfield upon
DERRYFIELD IN THE REVOLUTION 115
Monday the second day of April next at ten of the clock
before noon, then and there to act on the following particu-
lars, viz. :
"1 ly to choose a Moderator for the regulating said meet.
"2 ly to consult and agree upon some effectual method
to raise the proportion of men required by authority to be
raised by said town, for carrying on the present war in which
we are engaged, &c , &c.
March the 31th day, 1777.
"Benjamin Crombie,
"Ebenezer Stevens,
"Selectmen."
Derryfield, April the 2d day, 1777.
Then meet agreeable to the above notification and voted
Col. John Stark Moderator of said Meeting, then voted to
pay men that engages into the Conteneentel Services for sd
Town as a Bounty fifty dollars per man. Afterwards voted
eighty dollars per man in lue of fifty.
"Voted the present Selectmen collect the above money of
the free holders in said Town or borrow the above money if
demanded before it can be collected.
"Recorded this 3d day of April, 1777.
"David Starrett,
"Town Clerk."
At a special meeting June 2, 1777, a movement "failed to
settle and give credit to those persons that has done duty and
advanced some money towards carrying on this unnatural war
since beginning of Hostilities to this, so that the whole costs of
said ware may be squarely proportioned according to pols and
Estates." At this meeting it was voted Col. John Stark, Cap-
tain William Perham, John Harvey, David Starret and James
Pierce a committee to regulate and state the prices of things
not mentioned in the Regulation Act. Agreeable to vote we
find that a tax was levied upon the male polls amounting to
132 ilbs. 13s. 4d. "to discharge the bounty of five men who en-
listed in the Continental Army for three years." Again it was
voted at a special meeting "to care for the family of Robert Mc-
Knight," who was a three years' soldier. May 26, 1778, it was
voted "to have the one-half of fifty two Pounds of Powder from
Il6 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS
David Starrett for a Town Stock of Powder which the said
Starrett purchased on his own cost in Exeter at nine shillings
per pound." In the stress of obtaining recruits in the closing
years of the war we find it voted, May 22, 1780, that "the
Militia Officers together with the Selectmen shall provide or
git by hiersutch Soldiers as shall frum time to time be called for
as our cota towards carrying on the war. as cheap and in the
best manner they can and the charge of said hier. if they can-
not be got by Enlistment to be paid by a rate that shall be
levied on the polls and estates of the inhabitants of the Town."
"Feb. 13, 1781, voted that the expense of the war shall be de-
frayed by a town tax levied on the polls and Estates.
"Voted that a committee consisting of Samuel Moore, John
Hall, Joseph Sanders to hire such men to serve in the Conti-
nental army for 3 years as called for and secure them for
such pay as they may engage as soldiers.
"Voted all who engage in the public Survice be cleared from
paing aney poll tax for the space of one year after there return.
March 22 1781.
"Voted on 3d article in the warrant to allow six hard dollars
per Month, for three months that they sent a Soldier into the
service the year past or the value thereof in paper money.
"Voted on 5th article in the warrant not to have any Scouting
this year."
The value of money for this year is illustrated in the allow-
ance of $1000. to John Hall for "extraordinay services as
constable." In the warrant for a special meeting called for
July 12, 1781, the second article runs:
In as mutch as there hath bin a very suden and unexpected
revelution respecting the old Continantal money sence the Rates
were made, and the money raised to purchas Beef for the Army
doth not answare the eand desired, there fore to see what we
the Town will vote to make of said money raised to purchas
Beef and also to see what method the town will take to purchas
said Beef for the Army, which is wanted immediately.
Voted upon this article that the three Selectmen shall divide
the Town into three classes in order to provide the Beef for the
DERRYFIELD IN THE REVOLUTION 117
Army, and that eatch class shall furnish there equiel proportion
of said Beef and each person shall be equielly assed according
to Pole and estate, and that said Beef shall be delivered to the
Selectmen who is head of his class.
Voted that eatch man that hath paid this Beef tax to Mr,
Joseph Farmer Constable may have leave to take his money
back again when demanded, providing this was done within 7
days.
The weight of the beef purchased for the army for this year.
178 1, is recorded as 3105 pounds, and the cost of purchasing
said beef 108 pounds. The amount bought tor 1780 was 3720
pounds and the cost paid Jonathan Russ for buying same was
294 pounds. The rates for 1782 were as follows: Soldier
rate Sojbs. 10s. 4d., which was doubled before the year ended,
town rate, 49ilbs. 2s. nd., continental and state rate, 249lbs.
2s. 3d., minister rate, i61bs. os. 3d., Silver rate for interest,
5lbs. os. 1 id., New Emission rate, 92IDS. 8s. 3d., a burden of
taxation the inhabitants bore with commendable fortitude.
There was still a backwardness in paying the soldiers the
money due them and on March 16, 1784, we find it voted to
pay them "the money they have not received." December 8,
1794, it is recorded that the bounty of the Minute Men "be
$1. when enlisted, $1. when passed muster, $1 when they march
and $8. per month with cong. amt." Once more and for the
last time the records refer to the matter, when, October 13,
1807, it was voted to raise one hundred dollars if the soldiers
be called for as bounty. Voted the town give the Soldiers two
Gallons of West India Rum who turned out in defense of the
country." It goes without saying that through all the vicissi-
tudes of the long and sanguinary struggle for the country's in-
dependence, whether with the men whom she sent to the brunt
of battle or those who met the arduous duties at home, old
Derryfield was never for a moment faithless to her trust.
Major John Webster,
WRITTEN BY THE LATE SEBASTIAN S. GRIFFIN, AUBURN, N. H., AND
REPRINTED FROM THE MANCHESTER DAILY UNION,
DECEMBER II, 1 888.
"Then marched the brave from rocky steep,
From mountain river, swift and cold;
The borders of the stormy deep,
The vale where gathered waters sleep,
Send up the strong and bold."
Among many obscure individuals whose names are not in-
scribed on marble tablets, or placed conspicuously in the ar-
chives of state, the name of Major John Webster should occupy
a prominent position. Israel Webster, the father of John, came
to this country from England and settled in the town of Atkin-
son, where John was born, in the year 1736. Inured to the pri-
vations and hardships of a pioneer life, in his early manhood
having seen service in the French and Indian wars, he was well
fitted for those arduous duties which devolved upon him after-
wards, during the American revolution. As it would be impos-
sible in the brief space allotted me to give an extended account
of our hero, however, if I should succeed in calling the attention
of any person to a more complete explanation of a character so
full of the love of liberty, or should refresh the memory of a
generation who have almost passed away, and who was person-
ally conversant with Mr. Webster, then, indeed, this slight epi-
tome may not prove wholly in vain.
When the news reached Atkinson of the advance of the British
to Concord, Mr. Webster was at work in his field plowing. Un-
like the noble Roman Cincinnatus, who left his plow at rest in
the furrow, he said to his eldest son, a youth of thirteen years,
MAJOR JOHN WEBSTER H9
"Israel, you take the handles of the plow," and to the next young-
est son, "David, you take the goad and drive the oxen. I must
go, for my country calls for me." Mr. Webster went to the house
and informed his wife of the resolution, who immediately fur-
nished him with a knapsack, and filled it with provision, and
other articles he would want, and then he started for Boston
with some of his townsmen, and reported for duty. Many out-
rages were committed by the British soldiers upon the defenseless
inhabitants, which he witnessed, and years afterwards he would
relate to his friends and those about him, how his blood boiled
in his veins for vengeance against such atrocious acts of the
enemy.
Mr. Webster continued for a short period near Boston, when
he returned home to enlist men for the American army. He
was a lieutenant in a company of militia in his native town,
commanded by Captain Poor, who was a tory and would not
call his company together. But Lieutenant Webster took
the responsibility upon himself and enlisted many soldiers for
the war He was in the Battle of Bunker Hill, under General
Stark, and occupied a prominent position. He was on terms of
intimacy with the general, who put much confidence in him and
entrusted him with many important commissions. He was also
at the battle of Bennington with his company in 1777, and ren-
dered efficient service ; was offered a commission by congress,
but on account of his family affairs, he could not accept it. In
all the campaigns against General Burgoyne he took an active
part, witnessed his surrender at Saratoga, and was present when
Burgoyne delivered his sword to the American general. In
after years he often related the incident that the tears ran down
the cheeks of the haughty Briton on that occasion.
Major Webster was with our army in its encampment in New
Jersey when the soldiers suffered so much from the inclemency
of the weather and endured many privations, and witnessed
many trying scenes which never faded from his memory. He
participated in many of the battles in that region. Near the
close of the war, or in 1782, Major Webster bought in Derry-
120 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS
field, or what is now Manchester, some land and mill privileges,
since known as the Webster mills, on the outlet of Lake Mas-
sabesic, but a short distance from the present pumping station
of the Manchester water works. Here he lived many years,
surrounded by his children and grandchildren. Some of his
his descendants of the fourth generation served their country in
the late rebellion, and gave their lives as a sacrifice on our
country's altar for liberty. As Major Webster lived but a short
distance from General Stark and in the same town they often
exchanged visits with each other, and related the scenes through
which they passed; of the hair-breadth escapes and privations,
interspersed with anecdotes full of mirth.
Major Webster was a kind, genial Christian gentleman Like
one of old, he erected an altar where he went three times a day
and offered his prayers to Almighty God. This altar was under
some large trees near his residence, and for many years when
the weather would permit, he was seen to go and offer his peti-
tions. Major Webster lived to be a nonogenarian and died in
the year 1827, aged 91 years.
In one of the suburban cemeteries of the city of Manchester
may be seen the grave of the departed hero, beneath the humble
mound covered with grass he rests. If the name of Major
Webster is not inscribed on monumental shaft or obelisk, still
the principles he espoused will be handed down in history in all
coming time, and we should do honor to all those worthy heroes
by remembering their noble deeds.
THE STOEY OF LAKE If ASSABESIC.
BY FRANCIS B. EATON.
At the beginning, so far as white folks are concerned, it was
a pond and nothing more, defined by Webster as a body of
water somewhat less than a lake. The Indians, who probably
first discovered and appreciated its uses, may have called it
"great water," which may well be interpreted "lake/ 7 Potter
in his history of Manchester gives it thus: "Massa nipe sauke, 77
and Charles Bell, in the history of Chester, writing previous
to 1856, has "Massa peseag 77 — great water. A writer in Wil-
ley 7 s Book of Nutfield says Massabesic is from "Massa, or, as
it is sometimes expressed, msi (large) or matnsi (vast), and
nebe (lake or pond) and ik, which gives it its local term.' 7
Thus the historians all profess to derive their interpretation
from Eolle's dictionary of the Abernaque tongue.
Mr. William Graham of Auburn, born in 1776, and familiar-
ly known as "Old Grimes/ 7 writing in 1860, says: "Indians
plenty round the great pond. Deacon Leach of the Presby-
terian church in Cheshire sold rum in those days. One little
Indian came out from great island, called Deer island, wanted
some occupee. 'Who for? 7 said the deacon. 'Massa be sick,
want it for him. 7 That 7 s the origin of the name to the great
and little pond. 77 It is said that Massa died and was buried
on the island.
This story seemed probable enough to be adopted by the
popular fancy. As there are, however, several ponds by that
name in other states of the Union, and as "Massabeseck 77 is
found on old deeds much antedating the time of Mr. Grimes's
story, it will have to be thrown out of court.
121
122 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
At all events, Massabesic is a good name, as sings our well-
known local poetess, Mrs. Clara B. Heath, who has lived near
its beautiful shores.
"One legacy they left thee, was it chance?
A quaintly sounding name most dear to me,
That seems to whisper of some old romance,
Some pleasant tale blown over from far seas.
Two broad blue bays, that stretch out east and west,
Dotted with fairy isles of living green,
And midway where the waters seem to rest
In narrow bed two curving shores between
A time-worn bridge that long has stood the test
Of stormy winds and restless tides is seen."
Thai this admiration is not a mere matter of local pride, the
words of Mrs. Harriet Prescott Spofford in a story written for
the Atlantic Monthly some years since will show. She says:
"Among the many lakes in Xew Hampshire there is one of
extreme beauty. A broad shadowy water some nine miles in
length, with steep thickly wooded banks, and here and there as
if moored on its calm surface an island, fit for a bower of
bliss."
Other than this little or nothing of legendary lore has come
down to us from its shores. Thoreau once came within reach
of the Massabesic, but his ship passed by, just lapping the wa-
ters of the Coh as, and he spun no web about its unconscious
waves. The two well-defined sheets of which the lake consist-
are very irregular in shape, and if joined end to end would
measure ahout seven miles in length by one mile in width.
The eastern division, with ahout one half of the other, is
within tin 1 boundaries of Auburn. The shores are varied and
picturesque. Numerous beaches strewn with line white sand
furnish material much prized by housewives in old time for
THE STOKY OF LAKE MASSABESIC.
123
scouring purposes, and until superseded by modern invention,
for the finish of plastered walls. Chase remarks that these
beaches were much prized as places for bleaching the fine Irish
linen woven by the early settlers. Several years since, perhaps
fifty or more, a glass factory was built at Suncook and sand
drawn from the Massabesic for the manufacture of window
glass, and I remember well how astonished we academy schol-
ars were to see the distended cheek of the blowers and the
;
....■ i ■ *i:
" ^''"^ ■■'■«,"' : .,.-;:o-v-.-'-; •,.?;,<■■'■•:■
COHAS BROOK.
molten globes of red hot glass swinging over their heads
This was probably not a paying venture and was soon discon-
tinued.
Connecting the beaches rocky shores extend, piled high
with boulders indicative of old-time storms and winds, echoes
of which to this day greet the luckless voyager who happens
to be out in his frail canoe or cranky sailboat. Wooded slopes
124
MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
run down to the water's edge; luxuriant vines cluster on fine
old trees; the scent of the wild grape perfumes the autumn
groves. The bear found his favorite high blueberry in shel-
tered dells; wild geese rested here in their long fights hither
and yon, and great flocks of ducks found free ports of entry in
many a safe retreat. Deer browsed in the surrounding for-
ests; the lordly loon trumpeted his defiance in the lee of his
chosen islands or disappeared with lightning celerity at the
crack of the rifle. Acres of flooded marshlands furnished
iC$M^
BROWN'S ISLAND.
feeding grounds for pickerel or perch. Alewives crowded in
shoals up the Cohas in the season, and suckers abounded when
the winter snows moved off.
There are numerous islands, but only one of any great value.
The largest, Deer island, seventy acres in extent, was sold to
Joseph Brown of Auburn by the late Judge Samuel D. Bell in
1820, and until the present year was owned by Dr. James F.
THE STORY OF LAKE MASSABESIC. 125
Brown of this city. Judge Bell claimed ownership of the
pond and its beaches to high-water mark. The claim was
found not to be good in law, but to avoid litigation the city,
by its water board, paid $2,000 for whatever right Judge Bell
had. An Indian tribe is said to have lived on the island and
left marks of occupation visible fifty years since (Bell, History
of Chester). In the middle of the last century or thereabout
valuable pine lumber was drawn by sled across the lake in win-
ter to await the opening of navigation on the Merrimack.
Opposite Deer island is a triangular piece of land of con-
siderable extent called in early times Papoose island, later
known as Fletcher's. It was, however, a part of the main land,
but when the water commission built a dam at the outlet of
the lake, the low lands about were so flooded that it had to
be reached by a bridge. This bridge was built by the brothers
Fletcher, who also built a carriage way from the Proctor road
and fitted the grounds for pleasure resorts.
The larger of the two sheets comprising the lake contains
1,370 acres, and the smaller 1,130. In depth it is rather shal-
low, and is said on no particular authority to measure 50 feet
off Battery point. The sources of supply to so large a body of
water are not at first sight visible. It will be noticed, how-
ever, that the surrounding territory is of considerable height.
The lake, according the Hitchcock's survey, being 256 feet
above the level of the sea, and at Maple falls mill dam in Can-
dia, 407, and in other affluents in Manchester and Hooksett
still higher. More recent surveys by the United States gov-
ernment make this estimate seven or eight feet too high.
The watershed line runs through Northwood to Saddleback
mountain, south of west through Deerfield to Aliens town line
near Shingle ponds, then on a course through southwest part
of Candia to Patten's hill According to the survey in
Eaton's history of Candia and the map prepared by the late
ex-Governor Weston and Joseph B. Sawyer, C. E., the visible
sources are as follows: One stream rises at summit on the dis-
126 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
used track of the Portsmouth & Concord railway in Candia.
runs nearly northwest to Hooksett line, thence southwest and
south to Tower hill pond, supplying in its course Maple falls
and Genessee mills Leaving Tower hill, the stream runs
through Clark's pond, after which it is augmented hy a stream
from little Massabesic, bringing water from Murray and Pres-
ton's mill brooks in Candia. In addition to the above named.
a small stream rising in Hooksett discharges into the back
pond, and still another small stream, rising in two sources west
of the railroad, finds its way into the lake through the Proc-
tor estate.
It is estimated to drain a territory of forty square miles, and
to have a circumference of twenty-nine miles Tradition has
it that the first settlers learned to use fish manure from the In-
dians, and that a thousand shad or alewives put on to an acre of
ground would increase the crop fourfold. The practice was
followed to such an extent that in 1739 the general court of
Massachusetts ordered that no bass or cod should be taken for
manure "except their heads and offals. " The next year an
article was inserted in the town meeting warrant of Chester,
"to see if the town would take measures to prevent the killing
of fish as they come into Massabesic pond any more than what
is for family support." The use of fish manure seems to have
caused no little trouble. It is told that a certain good woman
in the Massabesic region was so scandalized at what she con-
sidered the inordinate greed of the farmers who planted a
whole fish with each hill of corn that she prayed for the pun-
ishment of such waste, whereupon dogs and wolves came and
dug up corn and all. In connecton with this legend it is
worthy of notice that the selectmen of Ipswich about the same
time passed the following: "It is ordered that all dogs for the
space of three weeks after the publishing hereof shall have
one legg tied up. If a man refuse to tie up his doggs leggs,
and he be found scraping fish in the corn field the owner shall
pay 12s. besides whatever damage the dogge doeth."
THE STORY OF LAKE MASSABESIC. 127
THE THREE TAVERNS.
In the history of the lake there have been during the last
century three taverns at pleasant points along its shores, each
occupied by guests, and conducted by one proprietor for a suf-
ficient length of time to be distinguished from the temporary
eating and drinking resorts by the name of tavern. In the
THE OLD COGSWELL HOUSE.
year 1800 Mr. Wade Cogswell came from Ipswich, bought a
lot at the north end of the lake where the turnpike crossed the
C'andia road, and built what was known in those days as the
Cogswell house. It was a substantial strongly framed build-
ing without pretention to any architectural beauty, as will be
seen from our engraving herewith given. How long it re-
tained that name does not appear, but in 1844 it was owned
by Mr. Daniel Merrill and was sold by him in 1845 to Mr.
Edward P. Offutt. Mr. Merrill is said to have began some
128 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
changes and improvements in the building, but by reason of
unsteady habits was unable to complete his plans. He died
soon after, leaving two daughters named Hannah and Ruhama,
estimable members of the First Congregational church who
boarded for awhile in the family of our president, Mr. Her-
rick. Mr. Offutt came to Manchester from Lowell, Mass., in
1839, and established a furniture and crockery establishment
at 31 Elm street, now 959 (?). He began changes and im-
provements in the house, stables were added, a hall for parties,
for Sunday services and for political meetings was built, a
miniature park was laid out on the approach to the lake, trees
set, the low lands about drained and brought under cultivation,
and a small steamer called the "Gem of the Lake" was
launched. A zoo was started for the amusement of the chil-
dren wherein was a mother goat and her sportive kids, a sober
and sagacious donkey, sundry strange fowls, parrots in cages,
and an occasional melancholy monkey.
Mr. Offutt was an enterprising man, and in addition to his
hotel property acquired the place known as the Oswego mill,
where machinery was introduced for sawing shingles and for
planing, and houses were erected for the use of workmen.
This was where the stream from Tower hill pond crosses the
Candia road. The dam, however, which was some years pre-
vious washed away in a. freshet, again gave out, and no vestige
of the settlement now remains. It is probable that Mr. Offutt
had too many kinds of business on his hands to make a suc-
cessful landlord. At any rate, the Massabesic house is not sup-
posed to have proved a profitable investment, though well
patronized at times. Mr. Offutt died February 2, 1870, sur-
vived by his widow and five children, now living. His widow,
a most estimable lady, at this time of writing ninety-one years
of age, is held in kindly remembrance by dwellers about this
lake shore for her interest in Sunday school work and for her
compositions in poetic form with which she entertained her
130 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
classes. She has since occasionally sent to her friends a birth-
day poem.*
In 1882 the house and accompanying land was sold to
Charles Williams and is still owned by his heirs. It was leased
by various parties at different times, but failed to recover any
great amount of patronage, and on the 14th of May, 1903, the
Massabesic house was totally destroyed by tire, undoubtedly
the work of an incendiary, as it had been closed all the pre-
vious season for the first time in many years.
Next in point of time and first in its commanding view of
the lake was Folsom's in Auburn, on the Londonderry turn-
pike. From the rear of the house the land sloped gradually
to the water's edge. Off the shore at no great distance the
green forests of Deer Isle were in full sight, and across the
deep blue of the waters the view reaches on to the mountain
heights, northwest of Manchester.
This tavern, as shown in our half-tone, was built by John
Folsom in 1806. Mr. Folsom was born in Newmarket March
11, 1776. The family soon after moved to Harrisburg, Pa.,
where the father engaged in nail making. In 1792 they re-
turned to New Hampshire and settled in Chester, near the chief
affluent of the lake. Here Mr. Folsom bought the fulling mill
of Joseph Blanchard and installed his machinery for nail mak-
ing. In 1805 John Folsom and John Melvin took a contract
to build fifteen miles of turnpike from Hooksett bridge, and
also the bridge at the straits, or Deer neck. For the bridge Mr.
Folsom was allowed one thousand dollars. At this time he
bought lot ninety-eight, second part, second divison, upon
which the tavern was built. The picture given here is a very
good representation of the house as it appeared fifty years ago,
as the writer can testify, having experienced its hospitality
♦Mrs. Ann M. Offutt died at her Lome, 310 Chestnut Street, February 20, 1904.
she was the oldest member of the Merrimack-street Baptist church and was a
member of the Manchester old Residents association and of the W. C. T. r. She
leaves three sons.Willard C. Offutt of Savannah. Ga.,'and E. Howard and Albert
K. Offutt of this city; two daughters, Mrs. Annie M. French of Hazardville, Ct.,
and Mrs. Ella J. Wheeler of this city; eight grandchildren and a great-grand-
daughter.
-
^
^
% %
'»*-•> ; ; & ;„r :,;.:-:;., "
THE STORY OF LAKE MASSABESIC. 131
while teaching a winter school in that district. Judge Folsom
was a man of mark in that day, standing for much that is
strongest and best in our New England character. He was
one of the judges of a court of sessions established in 1820, lay-
ing out roads, auditing accounts, etc. He was made a deacon
or elder in the Presbyterian church in 1833, represented Ches-
ter in the legislature of 1809, and later removed to Derry, from
which town he was representative several years. He died
August 9, 1850.
The hotel ceased to be profitable when the railroad took off
ihe np-country freight from the turnpike, and its decayed and
falling timbers have long disappeared. The estate is now
owned by Mr. Walter M. Parker, who has added to the beauty
of the original site by extensive improvements. A fine stable
of brick with stone trimmings is completed, and a summer resi-
dence to be shortly occupied is well under way. The fine
photographic view which accompanies this paper will give a
good idea of the situation as it is today. Mr. Parker, whose
ample wealth allows him to indulge his taste for the beautiful
land and water scenery of this region, owns about four hun-
dred acres on the lake shores, including Battery point.
The next largest owner of land on the shores of Lake Mas-
sabesic in Auburn is Mr. Andrew F. Fox, who has been many
times a selectman in that town, moderator of town meetings,
and was representative to the general court in 1852-53.
The Island Pond house was built early in the forties by
Bradford Beals and Henry C. Joy. They purchased a lot
on Caesar's beach, an interesting locality, which received its
name from one Caesar Harvey, of whom more anon. This is
one of the best beaches about the lake, a quiet, sequestered spot
with abundant forest growth about, inviting to cool drives in
summer time and commanding an uninterrupted view north-
ward across the lake with Birch and Deer or Brown's island on
the right, and Fletcher's on the left, for nearly three miles to
the Massabesic house. Not far from the site of the tavern
132 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
may be seen remains of a cellar, and the foundations of what is
said to have been the birthplace and residence of the com-
posi r of the music of the "Sweet Bye and Bye," interesting ac-
count of which may be found on page eighty-one, volume 1, of
the Manchester Historical Collections.
Before the completion of the tavern Beals sold to Joy, who
finished and conducted the establishment successfully for eight
years. He maintained a fleet of sail and row boats, gave fam-
ous fish dinners, and was well patronized by city residents, who
Mere wont to temper their hard work with occasional relaxa-
tion. The fact that there was a rigorous prohibition law prob-
ably added to the zest of these occasions, and it not infrequent-
ly happened that some who zealously voted for the law cheer-
full}' assisted in breaking it. There were no electric cars at
that time and it was the heyday of the livery stables. On Sun-
days and holidays teams were in great demand. Mr. Joy died
May 2, 1868, and the place was sold to C. M Hubbard, during
whose ownership the house was burned. Later it was rebuilt
and owned by Capt. David Perkins, but was finally again de-
stroyed by fire, and was purchased by the water commission of
the city of Manchester.
Jn following up and tracing out the old stories that hang
about the shores of the lake like last year's robin's nests, it is
interesting to observe how a tale grows in length and breadth
until the party who set it in motion would no longer recognize
it as his own. I had heard, for instance, of Caesar's beach,
but not where or why. Several persons knew so much but no
more. After awhile some one said Caesar was a negro. I
might have interred that, but said, "Good! we are progressing."
Another said lie was a slave who escaped from Salem before
slavery was abolished in Massachusetts, which would make the
time of his coining before 1780. A third said that he was
brought over by one Captain Harvey from whose name he was
known as Caesar Harvey, and on escaping from his master's
control became a squatter at the tail end of the Massabesic.
THE STORY OF LAKE MASSABESIC. 133
Interesting but not conclusive. A fourth (a member of our
association and therefore entitled to credence) said that Caesar
built a cabin not far from the site of the Island Pond house,
married a light colored woman, and had children, one of whom
was a daughter named Ginger. Now Ginger is said to have
been at work in a family in that part of the chestnut country
known as Londonderry, where nothing was known against her
character except that she was a Methodist, but as she regularly
attended the Presbyterian meeting, that was overlooked. On
warm summer days, the doors of the meeting-house stood wide
open, and while the preacher did his best to keep his congre-
gation awake, the dogs who had accompanied their owners
from home occasionally came in, up one aisle, around in front
of the pulpit, and out at the door by the other. Ginger de-
clared this sacrilege, and failing to make the elders take heed
to her remonstrance, provided herself with a long supple
sprout from the wood nearby, which she deposited unobserved
at the end of her seat, a modest plank reserved for colored
sisters. In due time the canine procession entered. As it
passed Ginger she laid her stick over the backs of the intruders
with a resounding whack. The yelping that followed thor-
oughly awakened the congregation. The preacher, who from
his coigne of vantage o'bserved the whole affair, paused for a
moment "while ceased the dreadful din," and then went calm-
ly on with his sixthly.
Now this seems on the face of it satisfactory, but a fourth
appears on the scene more extraordinary still. Caesar Harvey
escaped from Capt. John Smith, presumably at the Isles of
Shoals, as this is the nearest point that venturous navigator
ever approached these shores, and he is certainly not re-
ported to have ventured on the turbulent waves of the Massa-
besic. I am told that this view of the origin of Caesar Harvey
was supported by many plausible arguments. Now if this
theory be true, Caesar Harvey at the time of his advent here
must have been lively and living in 1614, so that by the time
134 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
the first settlers reached this locality Caesar must have been
about one hundred and fifty years of age. It is perhaps as well
to stop here for at this rate we shall get back to the original
Caesar and imperial Eome.
At an early date, probably in 1738 or thereabout, John Proc-
tor came from Ipswich, Mass., to Londonderry. In 1806 his
son John moved to Derryfield and bought six hundred acres in
the fourth division south of Cogswell's place, on the west shore
of the Massabesic. Here he built a house suitable to his pres-
ent requirements which, as family and means increased, was
enlarged and improved until the present commodious home, a
view of which is herewith given, was completed. The late Mr.
Luther S. Proctor, son of the above-named John 2d, was a
member of the Manchester Historic association, and a notice
of his life is given, with portrait on page xxxv, volume 3, of
the Historic Quarterly.
As a matter of course those approaches to the Massabesic
which afforded mill privileges were taken first. The history
of mills in the region has been partially given by Mr. Huse
in a previous number of this quarterly, and is fully set forth in
Chase's "History of Chester" and in Potter's "History of Man-
chester." For the common use of settlers sawmills, grist and
fulling mills were needed and soon provided. The late S. C.
Griffin of Auburn claims that one James Horner built a full-
ing mill on the site where the Griffin sawmill now is in 1720,
but as the earliest recorded meeting of the proprietors of Ches-
ter was in that year it does not seem probable that Horner
could have purchased a lot and had a mill in operation so soon.
Moreover, Chase says that the first settlers came not much be-
fore 1735. "At an adjourned meeting of the proprietors held
Dec. 11, 1735, A^oted, the land which the Lotlayers Laid out at
the request of John Calfe for an amendment to two home lots
and a half held by him, which transcript was read at the last
Proprietors meeting and put to vote for confermation and past
THE STORY OF LAKE MASSABESIC. 135
in the Negative, was reconsidered and read at this meeting and
put to vote & Passed in the Effermative."
This tract of eighty acres lay upon the broo£ flowing from
little Massabesic into the lake. At the same time it was voted
that Mr. John Calfe have liberty to build a fulling mill at
Massabeecek brook between the two ponds agreeable to his own
proposals.*
At the same meeting it was voted that Mr. John Calfe have
liberty to build a fulling mill at Massabeecek brook, between
the two ponds, agreeable to his own proposals. The mill was
accordingly built, and was said for a long time to have been
the only fulling mill within a hundred miles. It is among
the writer's remembrances of a country store that customers
had to wait for a consignment of full cloth. Twenty-four
years later Eobert Calfe, son of the above, was granted by vote
of the proprietors the right to build a sawmill on the "sup-
posed" privilege granted to his father. For nearly a hundred
years these mills appear to have answered all demands, until
the nail factory was started by Folsom, and in 1835 two broth-
ers, Jay T. and Flag T. Underhill, built a shop for the manu-
facture of edge tools. For about thirty years the Underbills,
with various additions and changes in the firm, conducted a
prosperous business until 1865, when the property was sold to
Mr. George C. Griffin, and the edge tool business ceased in
Auburn. Deacon William Leatch, as the name is spelled in
the old records, came to Chester as early as 1742 and settled on
lot number seventy-four, second part, second division, which
is the Emery farm. He will be remembered from his alleged
connection with the popular origin of the name Massabesic.
His name also appears on the muster roll of Capt. Joseph
Dearborn's company, Colonel Wyman's regiment, in the cam-
paign against Canada in 1776.
In addition to the places described as taverns earliest in be-
* In the spelling of this name is there not some probable attempt to imitate
the Indian pronunciation of the name, as in Bell " Massapeseag"?
136 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
ginning and longest in occupation, are many others in which
refreshments of various kinds are kept, hut which hardly have
a name in history as taverns. There are also numerous cot-
tages occupied in summer by lessees, or used by families most
of the season. The house at Kimball's point, built by Weeks
and Currier at an early date, has been occupied for many sum-
mers by the veteran ex-chief of the fire department, who has
added to the original lot purchased of Severance, and main-
tains a beautiful grove of maple and oak between the highway
and the lake shore. From this point the view is particularly
pleasing by day and equally fine by night, when the lights of
the cottagers around many miles of shore are reflected in a
hundred placid gleams from the Indian mirror, the great wa-
ter. On the whole the story of Lake Massabesic may be said to
have been singularly peaceful. The white settlers were mostly
men of thrift and industrious habits, and the aborigines, if any
were seen as late as 1720, do not appear to have been particu-
larly blood-thirsty. Mr. Griffin, the local antiquarian, indeed
relates a story of murder in which a French officer is mixed
up with an unhappy Indian bride, who suffers death in con-
sequence. It is undoubtedly true, however, that one Leret
Smith and his brother-in-law, John Carr, a youth of eighteen
years, was captured while building brush fence by a party of
Indians. They were carried three days' march northward into
the wilderness, and made their escape, returning unharmed to
Chester. The scene of this capture is said to have been on
Mount Misery, an elevation between the two ponds or wings of
the lake.
As another instance of the unreliable nature of the evidence
to be had of these early affairs it may be noticed that Charles
Bell, in his history of Chester, on the authority of Deacon
Smith of New Boston, a grandson of Lieutenant Smith, who
was captured, and who told the story to Rev. Mr. Kellog of
that town, says that the Indian party making the capture was
led by Capt. Joe English. As the story of Joe English and his
THE STORY OF LAKE MASSABES1C.
137
devotion to the white settlers is tolerably well known, there is
evidently a mistake somewhere.
Our Massabesic is a beautiful lake, even though it has no
charm like the older lakes of the world, and is not sung by
bards so many or so great, yet it has come to fill a mission more
divine, if cleanliness be next to godliness, and health of more
•^r^ v,:v
THE WILLOWS, ON THE PARKER ESTATE.
importance than wealth. It may be regarded as nothing less
than a Providential gift that a body of water so chemically
pure and so easy of access is found within reach of a growing
population, whose wants in this direction began to be mani-
fest as early as 1844. The story in this regard has been well
told by Dr. Maurice Clark in his history of Manchester, and
need not be repeated here. It may be said, however, that the
matter of a pure water supply had been thoroughly discussed
from 1844 to 1871. The city was then authorized to construct
water works, at an expense not exceeding six hundred thou-
138 MANCHESTBB HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
sand dollars. The work was undertaken July, 1872, and water
was conveyed to the city July 4, 1874. In this story there re-
mains to be struck a note of sadness. Like all things beauti-
ful or sublime in Nature, there lurks somewhere death to him
who woos too closely. The adventurous swimmer, the careless
canoeist, the daring skater, have year by year gone down to
death beneath those peaceful waves, and such will doubtless
continue to be the case until it is possible to exercise stricter
watch over the lake and its habitues. I am told, however, by
experienced observers, that the number of lives lost here has
been much less than in most resorts of the kind.
GEORGE W. MORRISON,
GEORGE W. MORRISON.
A PAPER BY HON. JOSEPH W. FELLOWS, BEAD BEFORE
THE MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION, DECEM-
BER 17, 1902.
George Washington Morrison was the second son of James
and Martha Pelton Morrison and was born at Fairlee, Ver-
mont, October 16, 1809. There were ten children in his fath-
er's family, seven sons and three daughters; not any of them
are living at the present time, the last one, a daughter, having
deceased at Fairlee about two or three years ago.
Mr. Morrison was of the fourth generation born in this
country, and came from a noble lineage, which undoubtedly
transmitted its characteristics from generation to generation
in a remarkable degree. I have not followed his ancestry be-
yond its immigration to this country.
Mr. Samuel Morrison, the progenitor of the family who
came in the early part of the eighteenth century, was one of
the colony which settled in Derryfleld.
Hon. James W. Patterson says in his address on the occa-
sion of the celebration of the one hundred and fiftieth anni-
versary of Nutfleld or Londonderry: "The Scotch-Irish settlers
of this country were a somewhat peculiar people, and unmis-
takable traces of the original traits survive in their children.
The warp of their character was Scotch, and the threads were
as close twisted and strong as hemp; but a hard and varied ex-
perience under changing governments and fortunes had filled
in the web with a texture of Celtic die and pattern. They had
the stern grip and endurance of the old covenanter, mellowed
by something of the flexibility of the merry-making Irishman.
139
140 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
They were equally prepared to defend a natural right or a
point in theology, to 'the last of their kith and their kin,' or
to make the welkin ring till morning with their hroad but
pungent wit. . . .
"Mental and physical qualities are transmitted, but these
are modified, and special peculiarities created by the conditions
and events of life. The strength or weakness of the father is
likely to be the inheritance of the child, and the remembrance
of a great ancestral achievement will ennoble a whole family.
The law holds good of races. National health is an element
of national strength. But. the forces which more than all oth-
ers impart greatness to a people are purely moral. The par-
nest and lofty enthusiasm inspired by heroic deeds and high
endeavor in those whose renown they inherit, the songs they
sing, the works of art they look upon, the labor of their hands,
and, above all, the faith in which they worship — determine
their distinctive characteristics. The songs of ^Eschylus and
Homer and the glory of Marathon and Thermopylae were the
seeds of fame which ripened in the peerless intellectual prod-
ucts and military achievements of the age of Pericles.
"The English at Waterloo could not break in the tempest-
uous charge of Ney, for they had the integrity of English his-
tory to maintain. It was not simply the responsibilities of
that day, but of all the past of their people, which pressed upon
and held them like ranks of iron against the impetuous valor
of France. . . .
"The substratum of the Scotch-Irish character was laid in
the stern and stormy life of early Scotch history; but its dis-
tinctive traits were brought out and confirmed in the long
and bloody conflicts which they waged in Ireland against ec-
clesiastical and royal tyranny, after their emigration in 1612.
Profound convictions, an inflexible will, and strong sensibili-
ties, were the natural inheritance of those people. They have
been transmitted from sires into whose mental constitution
they were wrought by the bitter experience of centuries."
GEORGE W. MORRISON. 141
It is familiar history that the people of our Londonderry are
descendants of the Scotch Presbyterians, who emigrated from
Scotland to Ulster, north of Ireland, about the time that the
Puritans left England for America and for substantially the
same reasons. In the early part of the eighteenth century
they came to this country. They have been called Scotch-
Irish, but were in no sense Irishmen. They were "among
them but not of them." The two races were entirely distinct
and separate. The Presbyterians left Scotland as the Puri-
tans left England, that they might enjoy religious freedom and
that they might escape the persecutions which they were suf-
fering.
The terrible experience through which they had passed in
their country in the struggle for power between the Episco-
pal Church and the Church of Eome for the supremacy had
prepared them to enlist in the conflict which came for Ameri-
can independence, and they were among the first to engage in
the war of the Eevolution. The staunch patriotism and inflex-
ible adherence to the cause of freedom which characterized the
men at Bunker Hill and Bennington came from a noble an-
cestry, and was transmitted to their descendants with unerring
certainty, and have marked every generation of these people.
David P. Perkins, Esq., in his excellent sketch of Mr. Mor-
rison, says that Samuel Morrison was one of the signers for the
charter for Derryfield, granted September 3, 1751, and was
known as "Charter Sam/' It is certain that he was in Lon-
donderry very early in its settlement, which began in 1719. I
find him taking an active part in the meetings before the town
proprietors during the years near the date of its charter, and
there is ground for believing that he was one of the leading
men of his time.
"The Morrisons, the McGregors, the Bells, the Pattersons,
and the Dinsmores" are spoken of as the people who were the
foremost in settling that part of the country.
142 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
The subject of our sketch was proud of his ancestry, and
was wont to speak with much feeling of the old Scotch blood
of which his family was born.
Mr. Morrison resided with his parents in Fairlee, and his life
run much the same as other country boys until he was about
twenty-one years of age. He enjoyed the usual educational
advantages which the district school of his place afforded, and
a little later entered the Thetford academy, where he remained
some four or five months. He was not a very healthy or
athletic young man, and at times had been somewhat incapaci-
tated from performing manual labor upon his father's farm.
It is probable that his delicate health had something to do with
the decision as to the business in which he should engage.
In 1830 he entered the office of Hon. Simeon Short of Thet-
ford and commenced the study of law. After a time he went
into the office of Judge Presbury West of that place, with
whom he remained about four years. In reply to an inquiry
of a lawyer in that vicinity, I received the statement that Mr.
Morrison very readily acquired a knowledge of office practice
in Orange county, and was accustomed to take charge of
Judge West's business in the justice's courts, and to some ex-
tent, in the county circuit during the time that he was a stu-
dent, and it was understood that he was very well fitted to be-
gin the practice of law at the time he asked for admission to
the bar.
There arose an objection to his examination by reason of
the fact that he lacked a few months time under the Vermont
rule, but the committee knowing of his proficiency, decided to
give him the examination and that he should he admitted
when the time limit had been reached, which was done.
Subsequently, he traveled quite extensively in New York,
Pennsylvania, and the New England states with a view of se-
lecting a location for business On his way home, he stopped
at Amoskeag village in this city for a day or two and became
impressed with the importance of that place, especially consid-
GEORGE W. MORRISON. 143
ering the water-power as a foundation for the development of
a large and prosperous town. Learning that a corporation
had been organized by capitalists in Boston and that it was
their intention to erect mills at Amoskeag, he decided to
locate there. In the summer of 1836 he came to Amoskeag
and opened an office in what has been called the "old school-
house/^ situated on the road connecting Amoskeag and Pis-
cataquog villages, a little north of the road leading up from
McGregor bridge. That section was then a part of Goff stown,
and I find him spoken of in the New Hampshire registers as
having resided there until 1841.
He taught two winter schools and possibly three while
living there, and it is interesting to know that one of our dis-
tinguished fellow citizens and antiquarians, Col. G. C Gil-
more, was one of his pupils. You will not be surprised that
Mr. Morrison, in speaking of Colonel Gilmore, said that he
was a very bright and intelligent boy about whom there was
nothing vicious or wrong, but he was somewhat mischievous,
nevertheless.
In 1841 he moved to this side of the river and took an office
in what was known as the "Old Ark," on the corner of Amherst
and Elm streets, a building which was originally erected in
Goffstown, and taken down and moved to Manchester by Mr.
John B. Goodwin, and finished into offices and tenements.
It is well known in the history of Manchester that the first
sale of lots by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company took
place October 24, 1838, and that quite an impetus was given
to the settlements and business in this section. Mr Morrison
began to receive a very considerable patronage about that time,
which increased and probably induced him to come over the
river.
He formed a partnership with Hon. Moody Currier in 1841
under the style of Morrison & Currier. Their office was in
the "Old Ark," and their business was quite successful, but
the partnership lasted only about two years. In 1845, Judge
144 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
Presbury West, with whom he had been a student as suggested,
came to Manchester and was associated with him as a partner
under the name of West & Morrison. They continued togeth-
er in business about five years. Mr. West was a very able and
eminent lawyer in the true sense of the word. His practice,
however, was almost wholly confined to office and advisory
work, which consisted in the examination of cases, bringing
suits and preparing them for trial, and giving advice with ref-
erence to all business matters.
Sometime in 1847 Mr. West withdrew from the firm and
moved to Jefferson, N. H. Mr. Morrison soon after formed a
partnership with John Langdon Fitch under the style of Mor-
rison cv Fitch, which continued until 1853, at which time the
late Judge C. W. Stanley, who had been a student in the office
of Morrison & Fitch, became a member of the firm under the
name of Morrison, Fitch & Stanley. This continued until
November, 1857. During that time they moved into Patten's
block, but in 1856 the building was burned and the firm lost
nearly everything in the shape of books, records, and all the
accumulation which comes to a lawyer's office, and they suf-
fered very severely.
During the interim, while Patten's block was being rebuilt,
their office was in the Union block. They had also an office
in old Town Hall building, over the postofifice, which stood
about where the city hall now stands. They returned to the
offices in Patten block, where the various firms with which Mr.
Morrison was connected remained until his decease. Mr. Fitch
withdrew in November, 1857, from the firm, by reason of ill
health. It continued in the name of Morrison & Stanley until
April, 1860, when Judge Lewis W. Clark, who had been lo-
cated at Pittsfield, came and united with them and the part-
nership became Morrison, Stanley cv (dark. That arrange-
ment continued until 1866, when Judge Clark withdrew and
it again became Morrison & Stanley. That style of business
continued until L872, when Frank inland, who had been a
GEORGE W. MORRISON. 145
student in the office, became a member of the firm under the
name of Morrison, Stanley & Hiland.
In 1.874 Judge Stanley was appointed one of the justices of
the Circuit Court of New Hampshire, and retired from the
firm, which became Morrison & Hiland.
In 1876 Roland Eowell, Esq., who had been a student in the
office, became a member of the firm under name of Morrison,
Hiland & Rowell. Mr. Hiland died in the latter part of 1878,
and the firm was then dissolved.
In 1879 Hon. John P. Bartlett became a member of the firm
and the name was Morrison & Bartlett; that firm continued
until 1881, when Judge Bartlett retired, and from that time
Mr. Morrison had no partner and did but very little work. He
was accustomed to come to his old office daily and kept along
in a way, but his health was declining and he was unable to
transact business. It is a somewhat interesting fact that dur-
ing the time he was engaged in business, the different firms
in which Mr. Morrison was the senior partner entered in the
court in Hillsborough county somewhere about three thousand
two hundred cases, and appeared for the defendant in about
twenty-six hundred cases, besides all the criminal business that
they had and besides all the cases that they had in other coun-
ties, which were quite considerable in number. I might state
also in this connection that Mr. Morrison was appointed solic-
itor of Hillsborough county in 1845, which position he held
about four years, resigning in 1849 for the reason that the
remuneration that he received for transacting the business of
the state was so small he could not afford to continue in the
office. Every lawyer will understand, it prevented the firms
with which he was connected from engaging in the defense of
any state action, his salary was very small, and it necessarily
deprived him and his partners of a considerable volume of
business which they would otherwise have been likely to re-
ceive.
146 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
In town affairs Mr Morrison took quite an active part, and
generally joined with those who were outside the "village" in
the controversies in matters of taxes and making appropria-
tions for the town improvements and the like. It is well
known that for a time the people who were in the "village" of
Manchester, as it was then called, were asking for these im-
provements and appropriations, whereas, those in the outskirts
of the town were opposed to that practice. Mr. Morrison, be-
ing a Democrat and having sympathies in that direction, gen-
erally took up the causes of the outsiders, and in their contro-
versies and by his speeches and adroit management in the par-
liamentary point of view, defeated the measures which were
before the town meetings, and succeeded in gaining the favor
of the outside people. He became quite popular with the
Democrats and to a certain extent with the Whig party. He
gained more friends among the Whigs than he lost among the
Democrats by his management in these matters.
He was moderator of the town meeting in 1840 or 1841 and
1844, and was also a member of the committee of arrangements
with reference to procuring some legislation which the city
desired. He took a lively interest in the matter of a site for
the town hall and was one of the committee to decide finally
upon its selection.
In 1856, he was retained in the famous controversy before
the New Hampshire legislature relating to the proposed rail-
road legislation. It will be remembered that there was an ef-
fort made at that time to procure the passage of a bill for the
consolidation of the Manchester & Lawrence railroad and the
Concord railroad.
Mr. Spaulding, Judge Upham, Col. Joseph A. Gilmore, and
others interested, made a. great effort to procure this legisla-
tion. Mr. Morrison, Hon. Benjamin F. Ayer, Hon. Daniel
Clarke, and Hon. James U. Parker, were among the counsel
who opposed it. On the other side, the counsel were Col. John
GEORGE W. MORRISON. 147
H. George, Hon. Josiah Quincy, and several distinguished
members of the Boston bar.
At that time the opinion of the great majority of the peo-
ple in New Hampshire was opposed to the consolidation of rail-
roads. Notwithstanding the unfavorable outlook which those
who favored the measure had, they engaged in this undertak-
ing with great earnestness, and brought to bear every means
that the corporation influence could obtain.
Mr Morrison, Mr. Ayer, Mr. Clarke, and Mr. Parker all
made arguments in opposition to the proposed legislation.
The subject was divided, and each one occupied his own field
without encroaching upon the others. It is not well to make
comparisons under such circumstances. Suffice it to say, that
Mr. Morrison's argument certainly ranked as high as either
of the other eminent gentlemen, and that the bill was defeated
by a decisive majority.
Mr. Morrison was always an ardent and out-spoken Demo-
crat, and participated in the politics of the state quite actively
from some time in 1839 or 1840 down to 1862 or 1863. He
was a member of the House of Eepresentatives in 1840, 1841,
1849, and 1850. He was also a member of the 31st and 33d
Congress.
While in the New Hampshire legislature he was prominent
and influential, and although not given to frequent speeches
he occasionally addressed the house upon important measures,
and was generally successful, and did much in the work of
shaping legislation. He was regarded as a very able and adroit
debater and shrewd in parliamentary tactics. One quite cele-
brated discussion in which he took part has been spoken of,
and it is said that the speech which he made on that occasion
was one of the ablest legal arguments ever made before the
legislature. It was in relation to an amendment of the charter
of the city of Portsmouth which provided that the different
wards in the city should have the same authority in various
matters as the towns throughout the state. It is said that Mr.
148 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
Morrison drew the hill and that the constitutionality of the
measure was the subject of contention
The opponents selected Mr. Christy, of Dover, who was one
of the most noted lawyers of the state, to manage the debate
on their side, and he was naturally looked to for an answer to
Mr. Morrison's argument. The story runs that during the
first part of Mr. Morrison's speech, Mr. Christy took notes as
he passed along and paid particular attention to what was be-
ing said. After a time he laid down his pencil and listened
attentively to what Mr. Morrison was saying. When Mr. Mor-
rison closed his argument, Mr. Christy was expected to re-
spond, but he failed to do so, and when asked why he did not
reply, said that there was no reply to be made; that Mr. Morri-
son's argument had convinced him that the bill was constitu-
tional and he declined to make any further contention.
In the political elections of New Hampshire he always took
a deep interest, and occasionally went upon the stump. I re-
member hearing him in the canvass for the election of General
Pierce in the town of Warner. There was a flag-raising and a
mass meeting and the people from the various surrounding
towns were very well represented. Dr. Jason H. Ames, a very
distinguished physician from the neighboring town of Brad-
ford, presided. Mr. Morrison was the principal speaker and
occupied the most of the afternoon. I remember that the
meeting was very large and enthusiastic and that his speech
was regarded as a wonderful effort. I find in the files of the
Patriot an allusion to it as one of the most remarkable ad-
dresses of the time, but no abstract is given of its contents.
On another occasion, a mass meeting was being held in the
old city hall of Manchester; Hon. B. F. Aver was president of
the meeting and made an address. Mr. Morrison delivered the
principal speech of the occasion. There was an excursion
along the Northern railroad to Manchester to attend this meet-
ing, and (piite a large number of people came. I was among
them, and I recollect that there was some disturbance by the
GEORGE W. MORRISON. 149
opponents during Mr. Ayer's speech and he called for the po-
lice to restore order. Mr. Morrison immediately objected to
sending for the police and said that he would be responsible
for the good order of the meeting. He was immediately intro-
duced, and commenced his address, and I recollect very well
the fact that in his preliminary remarks, calling upon them to
preserve the good name of the city for order and proper con-
duct, he brought the meeting to a respectful silence, and there
was no further trouble or annoyance.
As I remember his reputation and as I have heard it spoken
of recently, he was eminently adroit and tactful and was capa-
ble of meeting emergencies and obtaining control of his audi-
ence as few men could do. The most prominent feature of his
political life, however, was his action in Congress in opposing
the passage of the Nebraska and Kansas bill. Indeed, viewing
it from the present standpoint, it was among the grandest ef-
forts in the history of our national legislation, and entitles him
to the highest gratitude and admiration of succeeding genera-
tions. It is not consistent to go into the history of those times
any further than to say it was a struggle for supremacy between
slavery and anti-slavery, and that it was one of the most promi-
nent and far-reaching events in a long and bitter controversy
between those contending forces.
Mr. Morrison was a personal friend and admirer of Presi-
dent Pierce and was regarded as an able supporter of his ad-
ministration, but he could not favor the Nebraska and Kansas
bill, and arrayed himself with the opponents of that legislation.
His speech upon the passage of the measure was delivered
May 19, 1854, before the house as a committee of the whole.
It may be found in the appendix of Congressional Globe of the
33d Congress, page 49. He reviewed very carefully the whole
subject of the history of the Missouri Compromise and the leg-
islation connected with it, and also discussed with wonderful
ability the two questions as they were styled in the report, one
of domain, and one of empire or sovereignty.
150 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
The substance of it was whether Congress or the people
should govern the territories before they became states. The
legal argument which he made, the authorities which he cited
and the position which he took are very interesting indeed.
At the time, Mr. Benton and Mr. Chase of Ohio and others
commented upon Mr. Morrison's speech in a most favorable
manner and pronounced it one of the ablest efforts in connec-
tion with the whole subject. There is no question but that it
took courage and profound ability to take the position and
make the address that Mr. Morrison delivered on that occa-
sion. He was very severely criticised by his own party and
lost some political and personal friends thereby.
In writing home under date of May 31, 1854, he speaks of
this matter and says that he is entirely satisfied with the posi-
tion which he had taken, although he understands that it will
bring upon his head a great deal of adverse criticism and per-
sonal abuse. To quote his own language, he says: "I am sat-
isfied with my vote and could not and would not change it if
it were in my power to do so. I know I have done my duty,
and when sustained by a consciousness of right, boisterous
clamors of those who do not understand it, will not disturb
me. I prefer to have the approbation of my own conscience
rather than any other tribunal." In another letter written to
the same person, dated June 5, 1854, he says: "I have already
told you that I have no regrets for my course or vote on the
Nebraska bill. I expected some of the Democrats of Manches-
ter and other parts of New Hampshire would raise an outcry,
but, as was said of Biddle, I am as calm as the summer morn-
ing and wait with patience for a full development of their
schemes. I shall then make up my mind what course duty to
myself and the country requires me to take, and pursue it/'
Mr. Morrison realized full well that his course would be sub-
jected to severe criticism, and he was willing to take the
chances of the venture. He lived long enough to have it uni-
versally approved, and had the satisfaction of knowing that he
GEORGE W. MORRISON. 151
was a prominent factor in the great controversy which settled
for all time the permanency of our government and eliminated
from it the only dangerous element in its constitution.
When the war came on, Mr. Morrison took a position in sup-
port of the government and lent his influence in common with
the people here in approval of the steps which the adminis-
tration took to meet the rebellion,
In 1861, when the first call for troops was made, Mr. Mor-
rison, in company with Hon. Daniel Clarke, addressed a union
meeting held for the purpose of supplying certain things for
the soldiers who were to go to the front, and later he made
a speech on a similar occasion in connection with the 10th
regiment. In both of these addresses he took strong ground
in favor of maintaining the Union at whatever cost it might
require, and that the government should sustain the President
until the war should be fought out. I think that was always
his position, but at times he criticised various measures which
were taken in the progress of the war, deeming them unwise
and subversive of the liberties of the people.
He was a good citizen, sincere and earnest, and imbued with
a love for his country and an obedience to its laws, and pos-
sessed a full appreciation of their value. It was an intelli-
gent patriotism and a reasonable devotion.
It is not wholly without interest to know where Mr. Morri-
son resided here in the city. He lived about a year after his
marriage in Amoskeag village, in a small tenement just below
the Goffstown line, and in 1839 moved into the brick building
on the corner of Amherst and Vine streets, in the upper story.
After a few years he moved into the brick tenement house
directly east of Concord square on Pine street, and into the
south end of the block. From that place, after some six or
seven years, he moved into the double house on Amherst street,
where he lived the remainder of his life. Hon. Moses Morris
resided in the eastern part of the house for many years, but
later it was occupied by Mr. D. P. Perkins, who was one of Mr.
152 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
Morrison's nearest friends during the last twenty-five or more
years of his life. Mr. Morrison lived in a modest and inex-
pensive style and spent very little time in connection with so-
ciety or elsewhere except in his business circles and his own
house.
He married Miss Mariah L. Fitch of Thetford, Vermont,
November 15, 1838. She was the daughter of the Hon. Ly-
man Fitch, who for many years was judge of Orange County
Court, Vermont.
Mr. Morrison in early times took much interest in Masonic-
matters and gave considerable attention to their support. He
became a member of Lafayette Lodge June, 1853, Mt Horeb
Chapter, November, 1853, and Trinity Commandery May,
1855.
He was High Priest of the Chapter from September 28,
1855, to September 28, 1856. It will be remembered that
when the corner-stone of the Court House was laid July 4,
1864, he delivered the address, and it was regarded with great
favor by the fraternity especially, as well as the public. I
have been unable to find it in any of the papers, and infer that
it was not published.
But the greatest accomplishments and the highest renown of
Mr. Morrison's life was his character, ability, and success as a
jury lawyer and advocate. In that department of professional
labor he was eminent and distinguished in a very great degree.
His work was of high order, he ranked among the first lawyers
of the state, so it has been said of him by an eminent eulogist,
that if his lines had been cast in some great city like Boston
or New York, he would have been the peer of the best jury ad-
vocates in the country.
I am aware that the opinion of the professon is that one who
ranks high as a lawyer in the best sense of the term, or per-
haps more properly as a jurist, is really in the most eminent
position. That is undoubtedly a well-founded opinion, having
in view the broader and more important interests of the coun-
try and the enforcement of the law for the body politic, but
GEORGE W. MORRISON. 153
when considering the ability of the individual and judging of
the lawyer in his personal capacity by his own merits and
achievements in a professional point of view, the jury advocate
justly and properly ranks among the highest and most impor-
tant class in the profession.
The logic of the bench is easily worked out, the reasoning
which the jurist applies in the discharge of his duty has the
advantage of study, reflection and under favorable conditions,
but the marshaling of facts and analysis of evidence, the appli-
cation of the rules of law and the enforcing of the conclusions
which exigencies of the situation demand, all together require
a grade of ability, a strength of mind and a clearness of mental
vision unequaled by any other duty which the practice de-
mands.
In this department of the legal profession, Mr. Morrison
excelled and was the peer of any of those eminent men who oc-
cupied a commanding position during the last quarter of a cen-
tury, in the history of the bar in New Hampshire.
The common judgment of mankind is influenced and con-
trolled more by comparison than by intrinsic value. The
highest ideal or the most complete personification of character
is fixed by some standard, and by it actual value and personal
merit are judged and determined. The most eloquent of men,
the most profound reasoners, the most accomplished scholars,
are chosen as examples, and by such, the ability, scholarship,
and learning of men who are in actual life are compared and
measured. It may not be the most just manner, but it is the
most practical and perhaps the surest guide for intelligent
judgment.
It is difficult to handle ideas or to fully comprehend even
the ideal creations of one's own mind, but it is easy to see the
actual demonstration of ability and the working out of the
highest character in real life, and those who are compared with
the most renowned in personal achievements, or grandest in
154 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
ability are brought out in clear and well defined relief justly
and properly understood.
Mr. Morrison lived during a period of our history which was
marked by men, the most renowned, the ablest and most in-
fluential that ever existed in the state. With a few exceptions
such as Mr. Webster, Mr. Mason, and their contemporaries, no
age produced such a remarkable class of men as that in which
Mr. Morrison lived. Their names have become household
words of the profession, and their eminent position and ac-
knowledged superiority have become the pride and glory of the
New Hampshire bar.
The Athertons, General Pierce, Judge George Y. Sawyer,
Mark Farley, Mr. Daniel M. Christy, John S. Wells, Gen. Gil-
man Marston, Albert R. Hatch, Judge Ira Perley, Judge Jo-
siah Minot, Hon. Mason W. Tappan, Judge H. A. Bellows,
Judge W. H. Bartlett, and in later days, Col. J. H. George,
Judge William S. Foster, Judge Asa Fowler, Hon. Harry Hib-
bard, the Binghams, Austin F. Pike, Judge Ira A. Eastman,
Hon. Daniel Clark, Gen. A. F. Stevens, Senator Bainbridge
Wadlcigh, Judge Samuel D. Bell, Hon. Samuel N. Bell, and
others, were the lawyers with whom Mr. Morrison practiced
during the greater part of his professional life, and at one time
or another met and crossed swords with nearly all of them.
Truly he might say, as Spartacus of old: "Ye do well to call
him Chief who hath met upon the bloody arena every form of
man and beast which the broad empire of Rome could produce
and never yet lowered his arm. 7 '
For about twenty-five or thirty years he was accustomed to
try causes with those of whom I have spoken whenever occa-
sion brought them together, and they always found him a
"foeman worthy of their steel." It is probable that he tried
more causes by jury than any other man in the state of New
Hampshire, and it is a well-known fact that his success was
far beyond the average. He won more than his share, and in
view of the wonderful talent which was arrayed against him,
GEORGE W. MORRISON. 155
the giants of the profession with whom he contended and the
importance of the causes in which he was engaged, the his-
tory of his professional life is one of the most remarkable and
interesting of any lawyer within our state.
Mr. Morrison's inclinations led him frequently to assist in
causes of those who were unable to furnish sufficient means to
properly maintain their rights. As a rule he was opposed to
corporations, and was frequently engaged to prosecute cases of
a damage character. This position of things, of course, made
him counsel for the plaintiff and gave him an advantage in
the management of suits of that character.
Some discount should be made on account of the favorable
position which the plaintiff has, but he was almost universally
successful in that kind of suits. The laws were such that the
towns at that time were liable for damages happening to a
traveler by reason of imperfect highways, and a large volume
of business arose out of that condition of things.
Mr. Morrison was usually found with the plaintiff in all of
that class of cases, and his success was very remarkable, but he
was not always against the corporations. He was for a long
time retained as counsel for the Amoskeag Manufacturing
Company, and tried their most important and far-reaching
suit, which settled forever much of the law relating to the
right on the part of the company to maintain flashboards upon
its dam. A great number of cases in the interest of the ripa-
rian owners were brought and upon the Hillsborough docket;
the whole trouble eventually culminated in the prosecution of
Mr. Goodale of Hooksett for removing the flashboards. Mr.
Morrison had charge of the case for the company. It was the
hinge of the whole controversy and meant hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars to the corporation and to the interests of those
who depend upon the business done by means of the Mer-
rimack water-power. The cause lasted some ten days and was
very earnestly and tenaciously defended.
156 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
He was successful, and gained a victory which inured very
largely to the benefit of the company and the prosperity of the
surrounding community, while it did not injure the riparian
owners in any appreciable way. One circumstance in connec-
tion with that is somewhat interesting, the charge which he
made for his services. It was at the rate of twenty-five dollars
a day for the ten days in trial and one hundred dollars for the
argument, which consumed one half a day.
Mr. Morrison, in remarking upon it, said that he feared the
company would object to paying him so large a bill, but he
thought he had earned the money. Mr. E. A. Straw, who was
then agent, not only paid the bill cheerfully, but warmly com-
plimented Mr. Morrison for his success and his reasonable
charges. He was frequently retained in criminal causes, and
tried some of the most important cases in the history of our
state. One especially notorious was where he defended the
Eev. Mr. Dudley, who was accused of murdering his wife by
strangling. The case was tried at Plymouth, and although
the evidence was overwhelming, he succeeded in dividing the
jury and defeated an agreement at the first trial; the case was
again tried and Dudley was convicted. There was no doubt
about the guilt of the accused, and it was a matter of astonish-
ment that he was not convicted at the first trial. It is said
that some of the jurors would not consent to the verdict for the
state because, while they believed the evidence was all right to
sustain his guilt, the lawyer's argument convinced them the
other way. That would seem rather a strange position for the
jurors to take, but in the light of the history of the jury trials
it is probable that it was correct.
He was engaged in the defense of the Wentworths in the
celebrated Parker murder case in company with Mr. Pierce and
General Butler. Mr. Morrison had the preparation of that
case, and while the success of it was attributed to the eloquent
argument of Mr. Pierce, still, it is well understood that the in-
GEORGE W. MORRISON. 157
vestigation by Morrison as junior counsel was an important
factor in the success of the defense.
The legal profession understand the importance of cross-ex-
amination of witnesses, and especially in the trial of causes by
the jury.
As has been said by an eminent jurist, there are "danger
lines all round a case, and the greatest skill of a lawyer in con-
ducting the cross-examination of witnesses is necessary to avoid
getting beyond them in his effort to break the force of unfavor-
able testimony."
Mr. Morrison was very skilful and adroit in this branch of
jury work. Indeed, he was master of the art, and if there were
any weak places in his adversary's case by reason of doubtful
testimony, he was sure to find them and expose the wrong.
He was always gentlemanly but unsparing in his examination
and usually very severe in his comments upon unsatisfactory
evidence. While he was adroit in the cross-examination, he
was equally strong in marshaling facts and preparing his own
witness as for the ordeal for a trial. No member of the pro-
fession in New Hampshire understood better than Mr. Morri-
son the art of placing before a jury his side of the case.
He was a great admirer of the system of the trial by jury.
He was very familiar with its origin and history, and it was a
pastime with him to discuss its points of advantage and main-
tain its wisdom as the most complete method that had ever
been devised for the settling of controversies.
"He cherished the old-fashioned trial by a jury of twelve
men who were honest and intelligent citizens as it remains to-
day. . . ." He regarded it as the "arena on which have been
fought the great battles of right against wrong, of suitor
against suitor, and as a bulwark against all encroachments on
the liberty and civil rights of citizens."
As has been stated by a very eminent jurist, "this trial by
jury is not only the ancient magistry, rich in traditions of free-
dom and justice, glorified by prestige and prowess of all the
158 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
great advocates of our race, but it is the proudest and most de-
lightful privilege of our whole professional life. . . .
"Here alone occur those sudden and unexpected conflicts of
reason of wit, and of nerve with our adversaries; with the judge
and with the witnesses; those constant surprises equal to the
most startling comedy or tragedy. . . . Sorry indeed for
our profession will be the day when this best, brightest and
most delightful function, which calls into play the highest
qualities of the heart, of the intellect, and of the will, shall
cease to excite and feed our ambition, sympathy and loyalty."
I believe Mr. Morrison appreciated and entered into sympa-
thy with this admiration so well expressed, for trial by jury,
and that it contributed very largely to his success before that
tribunal.
Mr. Morrison died very suddenly December 21, 1888. He
had endured physical decline so long that his friends thought
he might live on for years. He had hardly taken his bed in
consequence of his last illness before death came. Old age had
done its work, and the iron constitution had crumbled, and his
life ceased to exist.
It is not possible to do justice in the brief time allotted to
this exercise, to such a life and character. He was a man of
kind and sympathetic nature, loyal to his friends and to all
causes in which he enlisted, possessed of a high sense of honor,
brave and determined in the discharge of his duty, amiable and
courteous as a companion, of unquestioned integrity and con-
trolled by a keen sense of duty. He was a strong party leader,
a brilliant advocate at the bar, on the stump or in the halls
of the legislation. The impression that his life made upon
our institutions and the effect upon the community in which
he lived can never be fully known, but it will be agreed by all
men familiar with his history that he rendered distinguished
and honorable service to his country, discharged well his duty
as a citizen, and contributed a great and valuable work to the
honor of the profession of law.
THEN AND NOW.
A PAPER BY J. TRASK PLUMER, READ BEFORE THE MAN-
CHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION, APRIL 1, 1903.
" ? Tis sweet to remember, I would not forego
The charm which the Past o'er the Present can throw
For all the gay visions that Fancy may weave
In her web of illusion which shines to deceive."
One of the most cherished prerogatives of old age is the priv-
ilege accorded to it of indulging in reminiscence. It is a
source of legitimate and wholesome gratification to him who
has attained to the allotted span of three-score years and ten
to recall his boyhood days and, in memory, review the scenes
through which he has passed. The man who, today, records
his years by six or seven decades has the unquestioned right to
congratulate himself on the fact that he has lived in the most
marvelous epoch in the world's history.
No other period in the annals of time has been so replete
with discoveries and inventions fraught with such vital and
beneficent import to humanity. So rapid, indeed, have been
the changes in the methods and processes of accomplishing
results that it is difficult if not impossible for the boy of today
to adequately comprehend what was the environment of the
boy of sixty or seventy years ago. And old methods are so soon
forgotten and the new so readily adopted, that we of more ad-
vanced years, before whose very eyes this strange metamor-
phosis has transpired, do not fully appreciate the magnitude
or importance of the transformation through which we have
passed. It is not surprising that your ten-year-old son cannot
159
160 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
adequately picture to himself the time when the only public
conveyance from Manchester to Boston was a lumbering stage-
coach or the still slower canal-boat when the traveller was for-
tunate if he accomplished the journey in a day. The boy is
impatient now if he does not arrive in sight of Bunker Hill
monument in ninety minutes.
It hardly seems possible that we were the boys whom our
teachers taught how to write, fold and seal a letter so that its
contents would not be exposed. That great boon to the indo-
lent as well as to the busy man, the envelope, came into use
less than sixty years ago. Have you forgotten how we took
the letters to the post-office with five cents for postage if its
destination was not over three hundred miles distant, and if
the correspondent chanced to reside beyond those limits ten
cents was the lowest rates we could make with Uncle Sam in
those days. Who would have then dared to predict that the
time would ever come when two cents would take a letter to
the farthest limits of the United States and Canada, and five
cents to almost any part of the world. We had almost forgot-
ten that the envelope, the postage stamp, the postal card, the
free collection and free delivery of letters and parcels, the
money order and registered letter service, not to mention free
rural collection and delivery, were conveniences unknown fifty
years ago.
Have you, my venerable friend, forgotten how we boys, after
the chores were completed at night, gathered around the table
on which stood the tallow dip that we mighi see to cipher and
"do our sums"? I remember now your people were "well-to-
do" and could afford the whale oil lamp. Whale oil was an
expensive luxury, costing about one dollar a gallon. You
might possibly have used for a short time a lamp burning
what was called fluid. It was a kind of connecting link be-
I wvcn the whale oil lamp and the kerosene lamp. We can re-
member very distinctly the first kerosene used. It was very
dark colored and in burning emitted an odor in no way sugges-
THEN AND NOAV. 161
tive of the perfumes of the pink or rose, quite different from
the high grade kerosene oil of today. When first introduced
it was sold for $1.25 per gallon. I remember when a boy and
working in my brother's store on Elm street, of filling and
trimming lamps in which was burned camphene. The lamps
were rather intricate and required to be kept scrupulously clean
in order to do good service. My memory may be somewhat
impaired, but I have no recollection of doing anything else in
that store but trim those seventeen camphene lamps. The
lamps had to be trimmed every day, for it was then the custom
to keep the stores open every evening in the week except Sun-
day.
The gas pipes were first laid through Elm street in 1851.
In the course of a year or two the pipes were so far extended
that there was a gas light at the intersection of most of the
streets in the more central part of the city. On nights when
the almanac foretold the probability of there being moonlight,
the street lamps were not lighted. No matter how dark and
rainy the night might be the almanac's predictions were re-
spected and the gas not lighted. On other nights they were
promptly extinguished at eleven o'clock. But really it made
but little difference whether the street lamps were lighted or
not. The light was so dim and the lamps so far apart that they
seemed rather to intensify than dispel the darkness.
The story of the discovery of kerosene, or petroleum oil, of
its evolution, how it has almost entirely superseded the use of
all other illuminating fluids throughout the world, of the im-
mense quantities produced, of the illimitable uses to which it
and its by-products, including a university, are applied, of the
wonderful revolution it has produced in the arts and manufac-
tures, of what a boon it has been to the poor and rich alike,
how its production has developed the most monstrous monop-
oly the world has ever known, of the enormous fortunes, be-
yond the dreams of avarice, which its manipulators have ac-
quired, is a story indeed more wonderful than that of Aladdin's
162 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
lamp. Such radical and magical changes in such a brief period
of time have never before taken place within the memory of
man.
Perhaps in no other way can we arrive at so just a com-
prehension of the strong contrast between the methods and
appliances in general use in our boyhood-days and those in
use today as by noting some of the changes which the adoption
of electricity as an agent has brought about. Hardly a score of
years has passed since electric lighting was first introduced.
Imagine if you can what a pall of gloom would settle over the
city if from the mills, the streets and the stores electric lights
were eliminated.
Fifty years ago the telegraph had hardly passed its experi-
mental stage. Fifty-three years ago the first submarine cable
was laid across the English channel, a distance of twenty-seven
miles. Today there is hardly a place so remote or obscure but
it may be reached by a telegram. With the telephone we con-
verse with a friend a thousand miles away and distinguish
every tone and accent of his voice as distinctly as if he were
standing beside us. The world has been girdled with wires and
the message is flashed that circles the world. It was but as
yesterday that the slow, plodding horse dragged the ill-fur-
nished car along the tracks. Today we have ceased to wonder
at the ponderous semi-palatial car bowling through our streets
propelled, heated, and lighted by the same mysterious and in-
visible force. The electric light, the telegraph, the telephone,
the phonograph, the X-rays, all these strange products of the
wizard's wand have become such ordinary matters of course
that we have almost forgotten that they are younger than our-
selves. It is difficult to overestimate the importance to the
science of medicine of the discovery and introduction of anaes-
thetics and antiseptics, and yet these two great factors in suc-
cessful surgery, which have-done so much for the alleviation of
pain and the prolongation of life, were practically unknown
fifty vears ago.
THEN AND NOW. 163 ,
The first complete sewing machine was patented by Elias
Howe, Jr., just fifty-seven years ago. You will hardly be able
to conceive of what the result would be if the sewing machines
were eliminated from the industries today. Those of us who
are so fortunate as to have spent our earlier years on the farm
need not be reminded that the mowing machine, the horse
rake, the horse fork, the seed planter, the manure spreader, and
various other farm machinery, make the lot of the farmer's boy
of 1903 quite different, to say the least, from that of the coun-
try boy of half a century ago.
It would seem that these improved conditions would be great
inducements for the farmer's son to follow the occupation of
his father. But the discussion of the great question as to why
they do not keep him on the farm is outside the limits of this
paper. But perhaps, now that the free rural delivery system is
becoming generally adopted, thus bringing the country boy in
closer touch with the world, he may be more inclined to remain
at the old homestead and till the paternal acres.
Among a hundred illustrations which might be adduced to
show the difference between the present times and the com-
paratively recent past is what, for the lack of a better term, we
may call the more general diffusion of literature in these days,
of books, magazines, and newspapers, together with improved
educational facilities. What I have to say in regard to this
matter must be prefaced with an apology for obtruding my
own personality into the subject. You will allow me to recall
my own environment, as a boy upon a farm three or four miles
from any city or village. In the large, square, low-posted sit-
ting-room, with its wainscoted walls and uncarpeted floor, ex-
cept for the home-made braided mats, opposite the wide, open
fireplace, with its swinging crane, stood the secretary or book-
case. Upon the shelves of the secretary were the old family
Bible, bound in calf, "Pilgrim's Progress," Bible Dictionary,
"New England Gazetteer," "Doddridge's Sermons," "Watts on
the Improvement of the Mind," The Old Farmer's Almanac,
164 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
and The New England Primer. There were undoubtedly a
few other books there the names of which I have forgotten.
Besides these there were, of course, our schoolbooks: The
Rhetorical Reader, The American School Reader, The Young
Reader, Adam's Old and New Arithmetics, Morse's and Mitch-
el's Geographies, Murray's & Smith's Grammars, Comstock's
Natural Philosophy, and Webster's Spelling Book. I cherish
today the memory of many of these old books as dear friend?
of my youth. Many of the selections, read year after year, are
yet, after the lapse of more than half a century, fresh in my
mind. Bryant's "Thanatopsis," Ware's "Ursa Major," "Old
Ironsides," "Marco Bozzaris," "A Psalm of Life," and bits of
poetry of this character were well worth remembering. The
prose selections were from the writings and speeches of such
men as Edward Everett, Daniel Webster, Rufus Choate, Pat-
rick Henry, John Quincy Adams, W. EL Prescott, R. H. Dana,
and Macaulay. I was about to compare the character of these
selections with those with which the readers of today are filled,
but hesitate to do so fearing lest I shall be unable to disabuse
my mind of a prejudice partial to those old readers.
Mathematics were a frightful bugbear to me, and I fear I
should be unable to speak without bias of those arithmetics.
The rules were fearfully and wonderfully explicit: Write down
the numbers to be added one under another, units under units
and tens under tens — but if we neglected to draw a line under-
neath it seemed to invalidate the whole process. The only
pleasant feature I remember about the old arithmetic was that
the last page or two was given up to riddles and puzzles. The
great question to be answered in one of these momentous prob-
lems was stated in these words:
"As I was going to St. Ives
I met a man with seven wives.
Each wife had seven sacks,
Each sack had seven cats,
THEN AND NOW. 165
Each cat had seven kits,
Kits, cats, sacks, and wives,
How many were going to St. Ives?"
Then there was the dilemma in which the man found him-
self, who had come to the river with a fox, a goose, and a peck
of corn, which he must take across the river in a boat, one at a
time, never leaving the fox to eat up the goose, nor the goose
to eat up the corn.
Then there was the poor frog at the bottom of the well who
jumped up nights and fell back days. I do not know whether
he ever got out. He certainly never received any assistance
from me.
Among the other books upon the shelves of the old secretary
was one which had escaped my memory, "Goodrich's History
of the United States." The boy who commenced to study the
history and geography of the United States fifty years ago was
fortunate in that he did not have so much to learn as the
school-boy of 1903. He had only to struggle with the topo-
graphy and general history of thirty-one states, while the boy
of this generation who graduates from the grammar school
must be familiar with the statistics of forty-five states, not to
mention Hawaii, Porto Eico, and the Philippine Islands.
Now, bear with me just a moment while I take you into the
schoolhouse in our district and introduce you to the school-
master. Alas! and alas! I cannot do it in reality. The old
schoolhouse has long since disappeared and no other has taken
its place. In that district where fifty years ago there were
thirty-five and sometimes forty scholars attending school in the
winters, there are now only two of school age, and they are con-
veyed to a neighboring district to receive their rudimentary
education. But although that old shrine has vanished, and
those whose memories made it sacred have gone to their long
home, nevertheless it remains in my remembrance as intact as
if it existed today. In my mind's eye I see its rough unpainted
166 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
walls, its rude and scarified benches and desks. In the center
of the floor stands the great square stove; at the end of the
room opposite the door the master's desk with the ever present
accompaniments of rod and ruler. Behind the desk sits the
embodiment of stern discipline and superior knowledge, the
schoolmaster. Flogging was more generally practiced in
school then than now. But they tell us more is learned now.
So that it is practically true that what the boy loses at one end
he gains at the other. On the left as we enter are the benches
for the boys, and on the right for the girls. On the front seats
are the younger scholars, w T ith no desks in front of them, dang-
ling their feet several inches from the floor. The larger schol-
ars attend school only during the few weeks of the winter
term, when there is little doing on the farm. Wood carving
was not one of the branches taught, but was, nevertheless, zeal-
ously practiced, as those old benches and desks would testify
if they were still in existence. Usually in summer the school
was in charge of a woman, and in the winter the schoolmaster
took her place. The teacher was engaged by a prudential com-
mittee of one, who was chosen annually by the heads of the
families constituting the district. It pains me to confess that
the prudential committee was not always a man possessed of
superior judgment as to the qualifications of a good teacher.
We were sometimes taught that which it was advisable for us
later on to unlearn. When the first class in reading was lined
up on the floor, it came my turn to read. I was unfortunate
in running up against the word "mechanism,'' which blocked
my further progress. "Go on," said the master. "I don't
know the word," I replied. "Machimism" shouted the mas-
ter in a tone which implied scorn and contempt for my igno-
rance. That same pedagogue, on the school records spelled my
brother's name H-e-n-e-r-y, which my brother insists to this
day is not the correct way of- spelling his name.
But let as not judge too harshly or be too hypercritical.
Thai was before the time of the normal school and the train-
THEN AND NOW. 167
ing school. If from what I have said, anyone has gained the
impression that this person was a fair representative of the
schoolteacher of olden times, I beg of them to disabuse their
mind of that idea. Never, in any profession, was there a class
of nobler, more self-sacrificing, hard working, good-intentioned
men and women than the schoolteachers of fifty years ago.
That this particular one should have missed his vocation was
due simply to the faulty methods of selecting teachers then in
vogue. The compensation which the teachers received seemed
in those days sufficient to secure the best talent. The master
commanded the munificent salary of four and sometimes as
high as five dollars a week. A good bright schoolmistress, cap-
able of teaching all the branches from A, B, C up to grammar
and arithmetic inclusive, would sometimes demand for her ser-
vices as high as one dollar and a half a week. This, however,
included board. In the parlance of those days, the teacher
boarded around, remaining in each family a time proportionate
to the number of scholars attending school from that family.
It gives me great pleasure to testify to the success which at-
tended the efforts of the good housewives of those days in mak-
ing pleasant the lot of the teacher while under their roof.
There was nothing too good for the teacher, and it was a red
letter week in every family when the teacher boarded there.
The steel pen had not yet come into general use, and one of
the duties which devolved upon the teacher was to sharpen or
mend the goose quill pens, more especially for the younger
pupils. It required considerable mechanical ability, and no
little time to put twenty-five or thirty goose quills into a prop-
er condition so that they would not scratch and distribute the
ink promiscuously. The steel pen, the fountain pen and the
typewriter have rendered this skill on the part of the teacher
of today unnecessary, and has consigned the good old-fash-
ioned accomplishment of mending a goose quill into innocu-
ous desuetude.
168 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
There was a custom in vogue at that time, in country dis-
tricts, of locking the master out New Year's Day. If the mas-
ter left the schoolhou.se, at the noon hour, on his return his
entrance was barred, and the boys and girls on that afternoon
enjoyed themselves in the good old-fashioned way. The wood
for heating the schoolhouse was furnished, in turn, by the
heads of the families of the district gratuitously. The larger
boys took turns in building the fire and cutting the wood.
Many of the scholars lived long distances from school, some of
them as far as one mile and a half away. School hours were
from nine to twelve and from one to four, and no ringing out
for bad weather. Those were the days of top or long-legged
boots, when we tied cords around our trousers' legs at the ankle
to keep out the snow while we plodded through the deep drifts.
Overcoats and underflannels had not then entered upon their
mission of emasculating youthful vigor.
It was in that era of New England life when it was required
of the boy to contribute something in the line of service toward
the comfort and support of the family before the whole ma-
chinery of the household had to be geared to his likes and
preferences.
The boy did not in those days have accorded to him as one
of his inalienable rights the privilege of playing ball half of
his time in order to develop his muscle. There were other
methods on the farm which accomplished that result and in-
cidentally contributed something toward the welfare of the
family. I am inclined to think, however, that the hard-work-
ing farmer of those times, who had never himself enjoyed the
luxury of leisure, hardly appreciated the fact that the ordinary
boy does require a little recreation. If I may be pardoned, I
will reproduce a short dialogue which took place between my
father and myself when I was about twelve years of age. It
was at the close of a day in late autumn. We had been en-
gaged in some late harvesting, and feeling the need of a little
variety of exercise, I asked my father if I might go over to
THEN AND NOW. 169
our next neighbors and play with the boys. My father, look-
ing up from his weekly paper, asked:
"Have you filled the wood-box?"
"Yes, sir/ 7 I replied.
"Have you got plenty of kindling?"
"Yes, sir."
"Done all your chores?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well, now you had better pull off your boots, warm your
feet, and run up to bed, so as to get up early in the morning."
The farmer who did not in those days own at least one yoke
of oxen could hardly claim to move in the best circles. It re-
quires no great effort to recall the time when more oxen than
horses were seen on Elm street hauling loads of wood, hay or
lumber. It may have escaped your memory that the house
now standing on the northwest corner of Main and Milford
streets in West Manchester was hauled from near Bedford
Centre in the year 1839 by forty yoke of oxen. The old house
was for many years a tavern under the name of "Traveler's
Home." The horse has almost entirely superseded the ox, and
the same Nemesis of Fate seems to be pursuing the horse in the
shape of the trolley car and automobile. Wrestling and play-
ing "goal" were the principal sports indulged m by the boys,
but when the snow was in a plastic condition there were battles
royal indeed.
It is surprising how a trivial incident in one's life, of no im-
portance whatever, will impress itself on the memory so indel-
ibly that it never becomes erased. So it happens that I re-
member that summer's morning in the old schoolhouse, when
we little ones were gathered around the school-mistress, who
in her gentle way was teaching us the sublime truths that
d-o-g spelled dog, and c-a-t spelled cat, and so on to the mid-
dle of the page where was h-e-n and opposite it the picture of
a good fat hen as a sort of key to the problem. "What does
h-e-n spell?" asked the teacher of little Emily. Little Emily
170 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
looked at the picture intently for a moment and exultingly ex-
claimed, "Biddy!" Little Emily never knew the delights of
the kindergarten, that elysian realm where the little ones like
humming-birds flit from flower to flower and gather the allur-
ing sweets of knowledge.
The spelling school has become almost as thoroughly extinct
as the dodo. Fifty years ago the evening spelling school in
the winter, in the country districts, was a kind of annex to the
day school. In these contests, which were to decide who was
most skilled in threading the mazes of English orthography,
John took his station on one side of the schoolroom and Mary
on the opposite, and alternately chose those whom they consid-
ered best versed in spelling. The one first chosen took the po-
sition next to the leader. For some unaccountable reason, it
invariably happened that the best speller, in John's estimation,
was his best girl. And the one Mary first chose to stand be-
side her was pretty sure to escort her home after the spelling
school. At first each and all stood and remained standing un-
til they failed to spell a word correctly, and then sat down.
The one who remained standing to the last was the cham-
pion speller of the district, and was held in somewhat the same
estimation as the victorious football player is today. Not un-
frequently heads of families engaged in these contests, and
were sometimes, perhaps from weariness, the first to sit down.
The schoolroom on these occasions was lighted by tallow dips,
wooden blocks with holes bored in the center serving as candle-
sticks.
In the earlier days children's picture books were not in
vogue and the illustrated magazine and newspaper were in
their infancy. Harper's New Magazine (it was new then),
Gndi/s Lady's Book, and Ballou's Pictorial Companion were
luxuries in which few indulged. The ten-cent magazine of to-
day woulj have then been considered an "edition de luxe."
The day of public libraries had hardly dawned, and the con-
ception of the Book Lover's Library and the Tabard Inn had
THEN AND NOW. 171
not entered into the mind of man. Nothing in the history of
the last half- century emphasizes so emphatically the contrast
between the present times and the comparatively recent past
as the marvelous advance which has been made in the printing,
illustration, and distribution of books, magazines, and news-
papers.
Thus, in a manner somewhat rambling and desultory, I have
noted a few of the myriad changes which have taken place
within the narrow limits of our every-day living, during the
last five or six decades. We have not crossed the frontier of
that broader realm of our national expansion and development.
Of the Mexican war, of the discovery of gold in California
and of silver in Montana and Nevada, of the Civil war and
the abolition of slavery, of the war with Spain and all that its
results imply, of all these and many more wonders no mention
has been made.
If tonight, after the lapse of half a century, our fathers
could revisit this earthly sphere, what would be their emotions
of surprise and joy at the wonderful and beneficent changes
which have taken place since they entered into rest.
THE OLD TIMES MUSTEK.
A PAPER BY J. TRASK PLUMER, READ BEFORE THE
MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION, JULY 3, 1903.
In a speech before both houses of Congress on January 8,
1790. Washington declared that "To be prepared for war is
one of the most effectual means of preserving peace."
Our ancestors, in whose memories were still fresh the mo-
mentous events of the war of the Eevolution, took this maxim
to heart, and incorporated into the Constitution of New Hamp-
shire an article embodying this principle of practical wisdom.
The twenty-fourth article of the Bill of Eights distinctly de-
clares that "A well regulated militia is the proper, natural and
sure defence of a state." Eecognizing the importance of a
well-organized and disciplined militia, the legislature of 1808
passed an act, section 4 of which reads: "And be it further en-
acted that each and every free, able bodied, white, male citizen
of this state, resident therein, who is or shall be of the age of
sixteen years, and under the age of forty years, (except as are
hereinafter excused) shall severally and respectively be enrolled
in the militia by the captain or commanding officer of the com-
pany within whose bounds such citizen shall reside. And any
legal notice or warning to the citizen so enrolled to attend a
company, battalion or regimental muster or training shall be
deemed a legal notice of his enrollment.*'
By this same act the state was divided up into thirty-seven
regimental districts. Each regiment was composed of two bat-
talions. From these thirty-seven regiments were formed six
brigades, and from these six brigades three divisions. Not less
than thirty-two, nor more than sixty-four men, rank and file,
172
THE OLD TIMES MUSTER. 173
constituted a company. Not more than one company of cav-
alry or of artillery each could at the same time be in organ-
ization within the limits of one regiment.
The laws relating to the enrollment and organization of
the New Hampshire militia remained substantially unchanged
for forty-two years — from 1808 to 1850. Previous to the lat-
ter year, however, the legislature changed the age limits within
which military duty was required. The boy of sixteen was
not enrolled until he became a young man of eighteen, but on
the other hand, instead of his liability to performing military
duty ending at the age of forty, it continued under the new
law until he reached the age of forty-five.
Space will not permit us to designate the boundaries of the
thirty-seven regimental districts into which the state was di-
vided. We may simply mark out two or three of them nearer
home. The companies in the towns of Amherst, Merrimack,
Litchfield, Mont Vernon and Milford formed one battalion;
the companies in the towns of Dunstable, Hollis, Nottingham,
West, and Brookline formed a second battalion; these two bat-
talions constituted the Fifth Eegiment. The companies in
the towns of Concord, Pembroke, and Bow formed one battal-
ion; the companies in the towns of Loudon, Canterbury, and
Northfield formed a second battalion; these two battalions con-
stituted the Eleventh Eegiment. The companies in the towns
of Derryfield (Manchester), G-offstown, Dunbarton, and Bed-
ford formed one battalion; the companies in the towns of New
Boston and Weare formed a second battalion, and these two
battalions constituted the Ninth Regiment.
The color and fashion of the uniform of the regular in-
fantry was determined by the commander-in-chief, with the
result that they were not uniformed at all, but wore suits of
whatever color or cut their tastes dictated or their means al-
lowed. The commissioned officers of these ununiformed com-
panies, however, were clothed in a military garb, with epau-
lettes and waving plumes the bright colors of which rendered
174 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
them strikingly conspicuous in contrast with the more sober
colors of the rank and file of their company.
The independent, or volunteer companies, were however
thoroughly uniformed. Some of the uniforms, with their bril-
liant colors and elaborate adornments, were, to my boyish eyes
at least, marvels of elegance and beauty. What could be more
beautiful than those red coats faced and trimmed with yellow,
those white trousers with the broad stripe on the leg, those
bell-crowned caps over which waved the white plume with a
red tip. We risk nothing in saying that those uniforms with
their gorgeous colors were in strong contrast with the som-
ber hues of the uniforms of the militia of 1903. But it is no
less true that to the ordinary boy the soldier is imposing, grand
and magnificent in a direct ratio with the brilliancy and gor-
geousness of his uniform.
From 1845 to 1850 was a period of transition when the old
flint-lock musket was being gradually superseded by the gun
with the percussion cap lock. The revised statutes required
all non-commissioned officers and privates of infantry, light in-
fantry and grenadiers to be armed with a good musket with a
flint lock and two spare flints, or a musket with a percussion
lock and a box containing not less than twenty-five percussion
caps. He must also be provided with a steel or iron ramrod
and suitable bayonet, priming wire and brush, scabbard and
belt, and a cartridge box that would contain twenty-four car-
tridges suited to the^bore of his musket, and knapsack and can-
teen. And every non-commissioned officer and private who
appeared on parade not equipped according to these require-
ments was fined for each article in which he was deficient: for
a gun, 80c; ramrod, 20c; bayonet, scabbard and belt, 25c;
two flints, 10c; priming wire and brush, 10c; cartridge box,
25c; knapsack, 20c; and canteen, 10c
The Ninth, or, as it was generally called, the Old Ninth
Regiment, comprising the companies in tin 1 towns of Goffs-
town, Dunbarton, Bedford, New Boston, Manchester, and
THE OLD TIMES MUSTER. 175
Weare, rendezvoused for many years at Goffstown. The mus-
ter grounds were sometimes west of the village near the cem-
etery, at other times on the broad level plains near the Taggart
place. Fifty-five years ago Goffstown musters were noted all
over the state. There was no other event in the whole year
looked forward to with such eager anticipation. Not only to
the soldiers participating in the military manoeuvres were these
musters occasions of great interest, but to their wives, chil-
dren or sweethearts as well. All the companies except those
from Manchester were made up of men from the rural dis-
tricts, and it was no ordinary occasion when father, brother
or lover donned the bright colors of his uniform and joined
the martial parade, and became, to them, an important part
of the imposing pageant. The happy anticipation of behold-
ing this impressive display and joining in its festivities light-
ened many an arduous task through the long summer months.
The state made no provision for the transportation of the
militia to or from the place of muster. Upon that day all
roads led to Goffstown. Long before dawn the thorough-
fares were alive with men, women, and children, soldiers and
civilians, pedlers, fakirs, and showmen, some on foot, some
on horseback and some in carriages, all anxious to witness,
or participate in, the first act of the great military drama.
The sun was not far on its course these muster days when
the orderly sergeant marshaled the men of his company in
line and received the commissioned officers. 'A little later,
with the accompaniment of music of fife and drum the morn-
ing march was commenced. About eight o'clock the regimen-
tal line was formed and the line officers received. The col-
onel, the majors, the visiting brigadier general and other
mounted officers now rode upon the field. It is unfortunate
and much to be regretted that photography at that time was
an art unknown. The pen can but poorly portray the im-
pressive grandeur of the scene as it appeared to the eyes of the
country boy of half a century ago. How those fiery, mettle-
176 MANCHESTEB HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
some steeds reared and plunged beneath their martial riders
as the inspiring music of fife and drum swelled and rolled
out on the crisp autumn air. What an embodiment of state-
ly dignity was that group of officers with their gay trappings,
gold epaulettes and waving plumes. Not a few of those very
officers and many of the men, in years which were to come,
displayed on real battlefields the highest courage and the no-
blest valor in the service of their country.
Most of the forenoon was occupied in drilling and inspect-
ing the troops. In the afternoon came the sham fight or
mock battle. This was the great event of the day. The piece
de resistance, as it were, of the entertainment. These sham
battles not unfrequently developed into real fights owing to
the ambition of some of the companies to establish their repu-
tation for valor and bravery. I am not aware, however, that
the fertility of the soil upon that field of Mars at Gofi'stown
was very materially enhanced by the blood there shed.
It is not surprising that in the turmoil and confusion of
these engagements some of the raw recruits became somewhat
flustered and excited. So it happened that Jonathan Digh-
ton loaded his musket every time the order was given, but in
the excitement of the fray, neglecting to prime it properly, it
was not discharged when the order was given to fire. At
length, after having two or three charges in the old musket,
well rammed down, he did prime it and fired. The result
was more disastrous to the man behind the gun than to those
in front of it. If Jonathan had received his wounds in legi-
timate warfare, in defense of his country, he would have
been entitled to a pension for total disability.
Jonathan Dighton inherited his military spirit and equip-
ment from his father, Silas Dighton, who was a veteran of
the war of 1812. Although in my youth the old soldier was
by age exempt from military duty, it was his invariable cus-
tom to attend all military trainings and musters. On these
occasions il was his special delight to regale the soldiers with
THE OLD TIMES MUSTER. 177
im-
accounts of his prowess displayed in actual warfare. If
plicit reliance can be placed upon his statements, and I have
no statistics to confute them, the happy outcome of the war
of 1812 was owing, almost entirely, to Silas Dighton's valor.
One little incident illustrating the estimation in which he was
held by the general commanding, as related in his, Silas Digh-
ton's own words, was this: "The British were drawn up in
line over there, twice our number. We Americans were here,
facing them. Our general rode up in front of our line. He
stopped in front of my regiment and shouted out, 'Is Silas
Dighton in the ranks?' I answered back, 'I am here/ and the
general said, 'Let the battle begin/ " It is needless to add that
the British were entirely annihilated in that engagement.
I wish here to acknowledge the obligation I am under to my
brother for an incident in his experience which will serve as
a side light upon the character of these old-time musters. Be-
ing warned for the first time to appear armed and equipped
as the law directed, he resurrected the old flint-lock musket
which had reposed in the family archives ever since the war of
1812, and devoted all his spare time for two weeks in his en-
deavor to get the formidable weapon into a condition such
that it would pass muster. With knapsack, cartridge box,
bayonet and canteen, with musket on shoulder, long before
sunrise he started for the muster field. He dates from that
day his belief in the total depravity of inanimate things. As
he expresses it, when the inspector examined that gun on
which he had labored so faithfully the blamed flints wouldn't
strike fire, and much to his chagrin and financial embarrass-
ment he was fined seventy cents.
These musters were often infested by gangs of gamblers and
light-fingered gentry who fleeced the unsuspecting farmer
most unmercifully. At the muster of September 24, 1839,
this class became so obnoxious that the Manchester Rifle com-
pany, under the command of Capt. Ira W. Moore, undertook
to drive them from the field. The gamblers resisted and
178 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
something of a conflict ensued, (lining which one, Elbridge
Ford, struck Jeremiah Johnson on the head with a club. The
day following Johnson died. Ford was arrested, tried and
convicted of manslaughter, and sentenced to the state prison
for five years. After serving three years he was pardoned by
Governor Hubbard. The preliminary trial was held in the old
tavern on the north river road, a house still standing oppo-
site the Whitney estate. The presiding justice at the trial
was Hon. Isaac Kiddie, father of John A. Riddle, Esq.
From these trainings and musters of olden times persons
having conscientious scruples against bearing arms were ex-
empt upon the payment of three dollars, and those holding
certain offices, judges and clerks of courts, physicians, clergy-
men, and attendants upon the insane employed in the Xew
Hampshire Asylum for the Insane, on the payment of two
dollars.
At the company trainings, or little trainings as they were
termed, the company assembled somewhere within the limits
of its bounds. For some years previous to the repeal of the
old militia laws these trainings became somewhat unpopular
and degenerated into mere burlesques. Members of the un-
uniformed, or as they were euphoniously designated, "Slam
bang/ 7 "String bean/ 7 or "Flood wood" companies, appeared
on parade in garb and accoutrement rivaling the grotesque
trappings of a company of "Antiques and Horribles." Mili-
tary discipline was lamentably lax. It is said that on some of
these occasions, as the day advanced, and the men had par-
taken freely of the refreshments, that the only way the cap-
tain could succeed in forming his company into the semblance
of a straight line was to back them up against some resisting
barrier like a fence or barn.
One would naturally infer from the wording of the old
warrants that drill in military tactics was a matter of secon-
dary importance. I copy from the original in my possession,
one of these documents:
THE OLD TIMES MUSTER. 179
"Antrim, June 10, 1798.
"To James Steele, Sergeant: —
"You are hereby required to warn all the training band
from James Steel's Sr. to Michael Cochlan's and as far south-
erly as Israel Cochran's, with the alarm list, to meet at my
house on Thursday the 7th day of this instant in order to
drink some grog.
"Benj. Gregg, Ensign."
There was probably never a decade in the history of New
Hampshire when the military spirit was at so low an ebb .as
during the ten years immediately preceding the Civil war.
By an act of the legislature of July 5, 1851, the old militia
system of the state was abolished. Under the new law no ac-
tive duty was required of the militia except in case of war or
riot or in other emergencies when the civil officers were un-
able to enforce the execution of the laws. In such cases the
volunteer companies were to be first called out. The an-
nual enrollment was kept up in a rather perfunctory manner,
and the divisions, regiments, and companies were required
to be officered. But there was such a lack of interest in the
matter, such an absence of military spirit, that in 1859 the only
organized regiment in New Hampshire was within the third
brigade, the officers of which were: Col. John H. Gage, Nash-
ua; Lieut. -Col. John B. Perkins, Hollis; Maj. Gilbert Wad-
leigh, Milford; Adj. Charles E. Page, Nashua.
The only companies in the state whose officers held com-
missions the same year were the four companies of the Amos-
keag Veterans Battalion, The Wilson Bifles, Keene, The Gil-
manton Artillery, The Lyndeboro Artillery, The New Castle
Light Guards.
Such was the ill-organized and unsoldierly military force of
New Hampshire when the terrible storm of civil war broke
over the land.
It is outside the limits of this paper to dwell upon the no-
180 MANCHESTEB HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
ble and patriotic response of the citizen soldiery of New Hamp-
shire to their country's call for aid in the hour of her direst
need, nor need we recall the valor and sacrifice of those men
"Whose labors gave
Their names a memory that defies the grave."
More than fifty years have elapsed since those old militia
laws were repealed. No other half-century in the world's his-
tory has witnessed such wonderful advancement in the arts
of war as well as those of peace. The old flint-lock, smooth
bore, muzzle-loading musket is now preserved only as an heir-
loom or curio in some museum of antiquities. It has been su-
perseded by those terribly destructive weapons, the Mauser
and Krag-Jorgunsen rifles. Fortifications which were be-
lieved to be impregnable fifty years ago are allowed to remain
today simply as barracks for soldiers or show places for the
entertainment of the public, while the old cannon that were
considered irresistible are left in place as interesting relics of
the past.
If it is true, as claimed by the students of the theory and
art of warfare, that the chances and probabilities of war oc-
curring between the great powers are in an inverse ratio to
the destructiveness of the implements of warfare, it would
seem that we might anticipate the time to be in the no distant
future when there shall be no more "wars and rumors of wars,"
when shall come that happy era of "Peace on earth, good will
toward men."
OFFICERS OF THE NINTH REGIMENT FROU 1840 TO 1850
INCLUSIVE.
1840.
Colonel, John Wells.
Lieutenant-Colonel, Daniel Worthley, Goffstown.
Major, E. Whiting, New Boston.
Adjutant, Andrew J. Dow, Bedford.
Quartermaster, D. Farmer, Goffstown.
THE OLD TIMES MUSTER. 181
1841.
Colonel, Epliraim Whiting, New Boston.
Lieutenant-Colonel, John Gregg, New Boston.
Major, James Cram, Weare.
Adjutant,
Quartermaster, Daniel Taggart, Goffstown.
1842.
Colonel, Ephraim Whiting, New Boston.
Lieutenant-Colonel, John Gregg, New Boston.
Major, James Cram, Weare.
Adjutant, Lucius Bowman, Bedford.
Quartermaster, Daniel Taggart, Goffstown.
1843.
Colonel, John Gregg, New Boston.
Lieutenant-Colonel, Jason Philbrick, Weare.
Major, Samuel B. Hammond, New Boston.
Adjutant, John C. Easton, New Boston.
Quartermaster, Henry C. Gould, New Boston.
1844.
Colonel, John Philbrick, Weare.
Lieutenant-Colonel, S. B. Hammond, Dunbarton.
Major, Ira W. Moore, Manchester.
Adjutant, Elbridge A. Bailey, East Weare.
Quartermaster, Mark Colburn, Weare.
1845.
Colonel, Jason Philbrick, Weare.
Lieutenant-Colonel, Ira W. Moore, Manchester.
Major, Thomas E. Worthley, Goffstown.
Adjutant, Elbridge A. Bailey, East Weare.
Quartermaster, Mark Colburn, Weare.
182 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
1846.
Colonel, Ira W. Moore, Manchester.
Lieutenant-Colonel, Thomas E. Worthley, Goffstown.
Major, Albe Morrill, Weare.
Adjutant, George P. Mixer, Manchester.
Quartermaster, John M. Parker, Goffstown.
1847.
Colonel, Ira W. Moore, Manchester.
Lieutenant-Colonel, Thomas E. Worthley, Goffstown.
Major, Albe Morrill, Weare.
Adjutant, George P. Mixer, Manchester.
Quartermaster, John M. Parker, Goffstown.
1848.
Colonel, Thomas E. Worthley, Goffstown.
Lieutenant-Colonel, Albe Morrill, Weare.
Major, James M. Tuttle.
Adjutant, Walter M. Cochran, Manchester.
Quartermaster, Charles W. Eowell, Manchester.
1849.
Colonel, Thomas E. Worthley, Goffstown.
Lieutenant-Colonel, Albe Morrill, Weare.
Major, Stephen C. Hall.
Adjutant, Walter M. Cochran, Manchester.
Quartermaster, Ebenezer Hadley, Manchester.
1850.
Colonel, Albe Morrill, Weare.
Lieutenant-Colonel, Stephen C. Hall, Manchester.
Major, Ezra C. Clement, Weare.
Adjutant, Elbridge C. Gilford, Manchester.
Quartermaster, George W. Eiddle, Manchester.
GEN. JOHN STARK'S HOME FARM.
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE MANCHESTER HISTORIC AS-
SOCIATION OCTOBER 7, 1903, BY ROLAND ROWELL.
Nearly two hundred years ago, when one of the principal
occupations of the men in this part of the country was that of
dividing among themselves the land that of right belonged to
others, the government of Massachusetts granted eight hun-
dred acres to Samuel Thaxter in what is now our city of Man-
chester. The exact boundaries of this grant were indefinite,
as it was the custom in those days of not counting swamp,
sandy or other worthless land as a part of the grant. If a man's
lot was one hundred acres it might cover five hundred or more
acres, for they intended to have one hundred acres of tillable
land, and, as the land was not theirs, they usually took pretty
good measure. In the Thaxter grant the surveyor adds
"thirty acres for sagg of Chane and fifty acres for a pond."
As this grant originally ran three miles east from the river,
the pond mentioned was without doubt Stevens's pond on the
Bridge-street extension, a very liberal allowance for this small
sheet of water. Human nature was much the same then as
now. A part of the Thaxter grant afterwards became the
home farm of Gen. John Stark, and was by him divided among
his descendants, and. the purpose of this paper is to trace as
far as practicable the boundary lines of the different farms as
he laid them out, and the various owners thereof to the pres-
ent time. In the southern portion of his farm the land has
been so subdivided that this is impossible, but some of the
northerly sections can be traced from the General down to
the present owners.
183
184 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
ARCHIBALD STARK.
Archibald Stark, the father of Gen. John Stark, and the
ancestor of the Stark family in New Hampshire, was horn
at Glasgow, Scotland, in 1697, and received his education in
the university of that city. In all probability he was a de-
scendant of one of the German soldiers of that name, sent over
to England by the Duchess of Burgundy about four hundred
years ago to support a pretender to the English throne then
occupied by King Henry VII. The invading army was de-
feated and the survivors fled to Scotland, where many of them
settled permanently.
When quite young, Archibald Stark went with his father
to Londonderry, in the north part of Ireland, where he mar-
ried Eleanor Nichols, the daughter of a fellow immigrant
from Scotland. In 1720 he embarked for America in com-
pany with many of his countrymen, and after a tedious voy-
age, arrived in Boston late in autumn. Many of them were
ill with smallpox, and they were not permitted to land, but
went to the present town of TViscasset, on the Maine coast,
where they spent the winter. The following year he joined
the Scotch-Irish settlers in our neighboring town of London-
derry, where he lived until 1736, and where his famous son
was born. During the latter year he had the misfortune to
have his buildings destroyed by fire, and instead of rebuilding
there he came to Manchester that fall with his family and
settled on the Thaxter grant at Amoskeag falls.
He built the house now standing at the east end of the
Amoskeag bridge, which was occupied for many years by the
widow of Jonas Page and until her decease during the past
summer and where her daughter still resides.
As the means for transporting lumber on land was then
very limited, they cut the trees for the frame on the bluff
just east of where the house stands, hewed them to the proper
size and shape, and rolled them down the hill to the place
GEN. JOHN STARK'S HOME FARM. 185
where they were to be used. General Stark was then but
eight years old, but for eighty-six years thereafter Manchester
was his home.
Archibald Stark died in Manchester in 1758 and was buried
in what was known as the Christian brook cemetery, which
was situated about where the north end of the Manchester lo-
comotive works now stands. The writer well remembers
when the bodies in this cemetery were removed. The bluff
on which it was situated was some thirty or more feet high and
close to Canal street, and was leveled to make way for a street
that was put through just north of the locomotive works as
then built. This street was afterwards discontinued so that
the locomotive works could enlarge their plant and still have
the same under one roof. A low slate headstone in the south-
westerly corner of the Valley cemetery marks the spot where
the remains of Archibald Stark now repose, and bears this in-
scription:
"Herb Lyes the Body of Mr.
ARCHIBALD STARK HE
DEPARTED this LIFE JUNE 25th
1758 Aged 61 years."
gen. john stark.
After the death of Archibald Stark his land was divided
among his four sons: William, John, Samuel, and Archibald.
The part allotted to his son John ran from about where Brook
street now is on the south, to the river on the west, the- north
line of land now owned by Charles E. Rowell, George H.
Brown, and Halbert K Bond on the north, and the original
Chester line on the east. This Chester line was very near the
westerly line of Derryfield park. The present line between
Hooksett (Hooksett being set off from Chester in 1822) and
Manchester runs from a point on the east bank of the Mer-
rimack river, near Martin's ferry, in a southerly direction un-
5
186 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
til it comes to the Hooksett road just above Campbell street
and near the first group of houses on the Hooksett road north
of Dorr's pond, when it turns sharply to the east and con-
tinues in that direction until it crosses the old Londonderry
turnpike a short distance north of the railroad station at Lake
Massabesic. Originally this line from Martin's ferry con-
tinued straight on south from the point where it was deflected
at the Hooksett road, and passed through Manchester a little
west of the height of land on Hanover street hill until
it reached a point near the Elliott hospital, where it became
very irregular.
The life of General Stark is so well known that it would
be needless to repeat it here. When not engaged in warfare
with the French and Indians he lived the life of a prosperous
farmer and business man, and was honored with many posi-
tions of trust by his friends and neighbors. He was a leading
man in this section of the country, and had a part in nearly
all the town's transactions prior to the Revolutionary war.
After the stirring events of that war he was again actively en-
gaged in peaceful pursuits. At one time he with two others
owned the entire town of Dunbarton, then known as Starks-
town, where he cut off and sawed into lumber much of the old
growth then standing there.
But it is not the purpose of this paper to do with aught
but his homestead about Amoskeag falls. As he got along
in years, and the cares and worries of his large estate became
burdensome, he gave much of his land to his sons and grand-
sons. By far the larger part of his home farm he gave to his
son John and the children of John.
JOHN STARK, 2D.
To his son John, 2d, the General gave the land bounded by
Brook street on the south, Webster street on the north, and
running from the old Chester line to the river. This lot con-
GEN. JOHN STARK'S HOME FARM. 187
tained the original Archibald Stark house, and John Stark,
2d, took up his residence therein. This has come to be by far
the most valuable part of the General's estate. Not only are
there extensive mill privileges now utilized, but the locks at
the falls are situated on this section as well as many of the
most costly residences in the city. On this tract of land, in
1795, Judge Samuel Blodgett built his house It was situ-
ated on the bank of the river back of the Amoskeag paper
mills, and here, later, Frederick G-. Stark lived and kept a
store. This house was taken down in 18T0.
Christian brook runs through this farm very near its south-
ern boundary. It received its name from an Indian by the
name of Christian who had his wigwam on the southern bank.
The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company formerly had a res-
ervoir on this brook just east of Elm street between Pennacook
and Sagamore streets, but late years this has been abandoned
and the brook now runs in a culvert nearly its entire length.
The old fair grounds formed no inconsiderable part of this
farm. Here for many years were held state and county fairs
and horse trots innumerable, and on two occasions at least
the New England Agricultural society held its meeting here.
Of the old trotting track but a single stretch of about seventy-
five feet now remains, and that is on the vacant lot on Chest-
nut street next south of the Webster-street schoolhouse.
During the Civil war the Fourth, Seventh and Eighth regi-
ments of New Hampshire volunteers and the First Light
Battery camped on the fair grounds while they were being
organized, and afterwards the United States government es-
tablished there the Webster hospital for the care of wounded
soldiers, which was used as such until the close of the war and
for some time afterwards.
The writer well remembers a bitter cold winter day when
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler reviewed the Seventh and Eighth
regiments here prior to the departure of the latter regiment
with him to Ship island on his New Orleans expedition.
188 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
While the soldiers were encamped here the water in the
Amoskeag company's reservoir on Christian brook was raised,
a high fence erected on the east side of Elm street to keep
out the gaze of passers by, and the soldiers of the various
regiments and the battery marched down there for their ablu-
tions.
The grounds were divided into house lots by the Amoskeag
company, and those on Elm street sold at auction in 1877.
The first house built on the fair grounds as a residence was
by our vice-president, Josiah Carpenter, that same year, at
the corner of Elm and Sagamore streets, and is the same one
now owned and occupied by him. It was then considered so
far out in the country that some of his friends told him he
might as well build in Hooksett and done with it, but subse-
quent events have shown that Mr. Carpenter's judgment was
correct.
In 1754 a road was laid out from Amoskeag falls to Man-
chester center which passed through a part of this farm and
was known as the Falls road. It ran from the falls diagonally
across the lot between Elm and Canal streets, through the lot
now occupied by Judge David Cross, and thence in a south-
easterly direction through the Governor Straw lot. The fine
old elm trees at the southwest of Judge Cross's house stood
on the side of this road. The house that used to stand where
the judge's house now is was occupied by James M. Webber
for many years and until it gave way to the present structure
in 1869. "
The Webber house was moved to what was then known as
the sand bank, where it is now standing just north of Bridge
street and about half ' way from Elm to Canal street. At
that time the entire tract west of Elm and north of Bridge
streets nearly up to Brook street was nothing but sand, the
only building thereon besides the Campbell house and the
locomotive works being a small unpainted structure, black-
ened with age, standing out in the middle of this sandy waste,
GEN. JOHN STARK'S HOME FARM. 189
not far from the foot of Pearl street and last occupied by
Moses D. Stokes.
On the Falls road a small schoolhouse formerly stood just
north of Christian brook, but it was burned down in August,
1859, and the scholars transferred to a room in the old Stark
house at the end of the bridge, until the Blodget-street school-
house was built. This old schoolhouse was erected by private
subscription in 1795, but was taken by the town some three
years later.
The knoll where the Gov. Frederick Smyth house now
stands was nothing but a pile of sand covered with poplar,
willow, and other native trees which thrive in such places,
and between the knoll and Elm street was a swamp where the
boys of the north end used to amuse themselves out of school
hours by catching frogs, etc. South of the Smyth house,
just across Salmon street, was quite a rise of land, on the west
slope of which stood a fine orchard which in the fall of the
year was a sore temptation to the youths of the neighborhood,
and which it is feared they did not always withstand. But
now orchard, knoll, and swamp have disappeared, and nothing
remains to make the spot familiar to old timers except a few
of the poplar trees on the Smyth estate.
As General Stark advanced in years he was unable to care
for his property, and so his son, John, 2d, moved to the Gen-
eral's residence farther up the River road, leaving his eldest
daughter Emily and her husband, John G. Moore, at the old
house at Amoskeag falls to carry on the farm there. In 1821
John Stark, 2d, sold this place to George Clark. After sell-
ing a small parcel on the east side of the River road to Fred-
erick Kimball, Mr. Clark sold the balance to the Amoskeag
Manufacturing company at the time they were acquiring title
to the land on this side of the river. About 1838 Mr. Kim-
ball built a house on his land immediately north of the Fred-
erick Smyth lot, which was long used as a tavern and fre-
quented by boatmen on the river, and which is still standing
190 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
and owned by his grandson, Fred K. Ramsey, to whom it has
descended. He also built the house now standing at the
southeast corner of Webster street and the River road and
owned by Walter M. Parker. Here Samuel Hall, Jr., lived
until he purchased the Joseph M. Rowell place on the west
side of the River road, just north of Webster street, when he
moved to the latter place and resided thereon until his death.
His son, George E., now owns and occupies this place. It was
a part of the Ray farm, w r hich will be described later.
John Stark, 2d's, wife was Polly Huse. His children seemed
to be especially favored by the old General in the disposition
of his home estate, nearly all receiving a liberal slice thereof.
They were:
Gradus Bakeman, who married Ann Davis, a grand-aunt of
the writer hereof.
Emily, who married John G. Moore and lived on the home
place at the falls.
John, 3d, who married Sallie Pollard.
Betsy, who married Samuel P. Kidder and lived in the house
now standing on Canal street just south of the Manchester
Locomotive works. Here their children were born: Samuel
B., Elizabeth, who married Nathaniel E. Morrill, John S.,
Mary W., who married ex-Governor Moody Currier, Susan S.,
who married David Palmer, and Joseph, all now deceased, the
latter being our vice-president at the time of his death.
Frederick G., who married Nancy Gillis.
Mary, who married Josiah Gillis, a brother to the wife of
Frederick G.
Susan, who married John Gamble.
Charles, who married Fannie Kimball.
Albert, who married Susan Russell and was father of Fred-
erick G., who afterwards lived in 'Squog, and grandfather of
Frederick R., the real estate dealer, Dr. Gillis, Dr. Maurice A.
of Goffstown, and Augusta, who married Charles Smith.
Samuel, who married Betsy Griffin.
GEN. JOHN STARK'S HOME FARM. 191
Caleb, who married Mary Saywood.
Louisa, who married Albert Roby and is now living in this
city at the age of ninety-fonr.
The two older ones, Gradus and Emily, were born at their
great-grandfather Page's house in Dunbarton, while all the
rest except Louisa, the youngest, were born in the old house
at the end of Amoskeag bridge. She was born in the Gen-
eral's house on the river road farther north.
JOHN RAY.
The land next north of that given by the General to his son
John he gave to John Ray, whom he had taken when a small
boy and brought up as one of his family. All the old settlers
with whom the writer has consulted regarding this paper re-
fer to him as "Johnny" Ray. This lot extended from Web-
ster street to a point just south of Clark's ledge on the River
road, and from the river to the old Chester line. The north
line of Frank Preston's land on Elm street is the north line
of this lot. Mr. Ray lived in a house on what is now known
as Riverside, or the Colonel Eastman place, about opposite the
Thayer residence. The old house has long since disappeared.
Through this farm the Ray brook flows. This brook rises
in Chase's meadow in Hooksett and flows into the river a
short distance above Amoskeag falls. In the early days a saw-
mill was built on this brook where Dorr's pond now is, pre-
sumably by Archibald Stark soon after he moved here, and
it is said that the foundations thereof can now be seen at low
water. There has been some controversy as to whether or
not this was the historic mill shut down by General Stark
upon receipt of the news of the Lexington fight. There used
also to be a bark mill on this brook on the east side of the
River road, but it has long since disappeared.
"Johnny" Ray's children were James, who married Maria
Blodgett, a granddaughter of General Stark, Col. John Ray,
192 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
Stark Kay, Jere. Ray, Russell Ray, Edward Ray, Polly, who
married Samuel Hall, Sr., Axie, who married a Whitney,
Betsy, who married Moses Wells, and Sally, who married Jo-
siah Hall. Stark Ray was the father of Rev. John W. Ray, at
one time principal of the high school here and who built and
for many years owned and occupied the house now owned and
occupied by Mrs. Horace D. Corliss, at the northeast corner
of Elm and Webster streets.
During the latter years of "Johnny" Ray's life he was cared
for by his son, Colonel John, and at his death the property
became the colonel's. During the lifetime of the latter the
estate was kept practically intact, but when he died leaving
no children it went to his brothers and sisters and their chil-
dren. Joseph M. Rowell, who married Jeannette Hall, a
granddaughter of Colonel Ray and a sister of Samuel Hall,
Jr., had the property between the River road and the river
and from Webster street to the south line of Riverside. This
includes the present estates of George E. Hall and Alonzo
Elliott. Gilman H. Kimball also purchased of the Ray heirs
a small tract on the east side of the River road, not far above
Webster street, and built the cottage house now standing
there, into which he moved upon his marriage and where he
lived for several years. In 1863 Mr. Kimball's daughter mar-
ried Edwin H. Hobbs, and this place was owned and occupied
by them for some years. The Ray heirs also sold to James 0.
Adams, for a long time superintendent of schools in this city,
a tract next north of Riverside and extending from the River
road to the river. Mr. Adams sold this land to John Kelley,
whose heirs now own the property. The next land above the
Kelley land was purchased by James 0. Clark and is now
owned and occupied by the Wheeler family, who purchased
it of Mr. Clark. The tract of land between Chestnut street
and the River road and extending from the south line of
Clark's ledge to Clarke street, was bought by Samuel Hall,
Jr. This land now has many owners, but a part still re-
GEN. JOHN STARK'S HOME FARM. 193
mains the property of Mr. Hall's son, George E., the well-
known druggist.
On the Eay farm are now many elegant estates, among
which may be mentioned:
Raybrocik, situated on both sides of Ray brook, between Elm
and Chestnut streets, and south of Clarke street, and contains
about ten acres of land. This was a part of the estate ac-
quired from the Eay heirs by Dustin Marshall in 1851, and
was by him sold to William C. Clarke in 1853. Two years
later Mr. Clarke built the house now standing there and in
which he lived until he sold to Cyrus Dunn in 1867. From
Mr. Dunn the property passed into the possession of the
Amoskeag bank, and the bank sold it to Henry Chandler, who
resided there until his death and whose heirs now own the
estate.
BrooMurst, the present home of Alonzo Elliott, comprises
some seven acres of land running from the River road to the
river, lying next south of Riverside, and through which Ray
brook flows. This land was purchased of Col. Arthur M.
Eastman's heirs by Mr. Elliott in 1888, and the house erected
in 1892. This land was bought by Colonel Eastman of Jo-
seph M. Rowell.
Riverside, the home of Col. Arthur M. Eastman during the
latter years of his life and now owned by his grandchildren,
was purchased by him of Moses Wells, whose wife was Betsy
Ray, a sister of Colonel John, from whom she inherited the
estate. The house now standing thereon was erected by Col-
onel Eastman about 1860.
Besides the foregoing there are many fine residences, among
which may be mentioned those of United States Senator
Henry E. Burnham, Street Commissioner George H. Stearns,
Dr. Chauncey W. Clement, Dr. H. D. W. Carvelle, Judge
George H. Bingham, Chief Engineer Thomas W. Lane, Sen-
ator James Lightbody, Dr. Frederick Perkins, Alderman Fred
K. Ramsey, George E. Hall, Frank W. Fitts, Frank Preston,
194 MANCHESTEB HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
the late George \V. Thayer, and the late Charles W. Temple.
When George Clark sold the John Stark, 2d, farm to the
Amoskeag company, he bought of John Stark, 3d, a strip of
his land twenty-five rods wide, lying south of the south line
of Stark park and running from the river to the Chester
line. On this land Mr. Clark built a house on the west side
of the River road, and very near Stark park, where he lived
until his death. This house was afterwards moved farther
down the River road on to what was a part of the Ray farm,
now the Wheeler land, and is occupied as a tenement house,
and on its former site the Davis house was built. When
George Clark died his nephew, James Otis Clark, bought out
the other heirs, and most of that part of the farm west of the
River road belongs to his daughter Carlie. That part of the
Clark land between the River road and Elm street, except
where the ledge is, belongs to Daniel Readey, and the east
of Elm street has many owners.
JOHN STARK, 3D.
Next north of the land given to John Ray the General
gave to his grandson John, the son of his son John. This
lot ran from the south side of Clark's ledge to what is now
the north line of Stark park, and, as with the preceding
grants, from the river to the old Chester line. John Stark.
3d, married Sallie Pollard, and in 1816 he built the house
on the River road at the brow of the hill, where he resided
until his death. A few years ago, and just before her death,
his daughter Elizabeth remodeled the old house, but re-
tained most of its original features. It is at present occupied
by Col. Arthur E. Clarke, proprietor of the Manchester Mir-
ror. Just east of this house, about on the site of the present
residence of George E. Gould, John Stark, 3d, started to open
a ledge. By the falling of a derrick his son Thomas was
killed, thereupon all work on the ledge was suspended and
was never renewed.
GEN. JOHN STARK'S HOME FARM. 195
A little north of the John Stark, 3d, house on the Eiver
road, his son, Augustus H., built a residence for himself,
where he lived until his death in the summer of 1902, and
where his widow now resides.
Besides the above children John Stark, 3d, had a son Ben-
jamin F., who married Harriett Kimball, and who received
land out of the northerly part of the Archibald Stark farm.
On the section given to John Stark, 3d, was located the
Stark burying-ground, where rest the remains of the general
and many of his descendants. It is situated on a bluff about
half way from the Eiver road to the river, overlooking the
river up and down for quite a distance. On the anniversary
of the battle of Bennington, 1829, a granite obelisk with his
name inscribed thereon was here erected to his memory by
his family. This stone was of Concord granite and was hewed
and fashioned by the inmates of the state prison at Concord.
Several bills have been introduced into Congress appropriat-
ing money for a monument to be placed over his grave, but
for various reasons they have all failed of a passage by both
houses, and consequently nothing has been done
In 1876 Augustus H. and Elizabeth Stark, the surviving
children of John Stark, 3d, gave to the city of Manchester
about two acres of land, on which the burying-ground was
located. The description of the land and the restrictions
placed thereon are as follows:
"Beginning at a stake standing at the intersection of the
northerly line of Trenton street with the westerly line of
Bennington street as shown on a map of the northerly portion
of Manchester, dated 1875, said map having been adopted by
the city councils of said city, October 19, 1875, as a guide
for the future construction of streets in the section embraced
within its limits; thence running northerly by said Benning-
ton street two hundred and fifty feet; thence westerly by
Princeton street three hundred and fifty feet; thence southerly
by Lexington street two hundred and fifty feet; thence east-
196 MANCHESTEB HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
erly by said Trenton street three hundred and fifty feet to
the bound begun at: containing eighty-seven thousand five
hundred square feet. The foregoing tract of land is known
on said map as Monument square, and contains the family
burial ground of Major-Gen. John Stark. This convey-
ance is made upon the condition that said city shall within
three years from the date hereof properly enclose said prem-
ises with a suitable enclosure and shall thenceforth at all
times properly secure, protect and preserve said premises
with the monuments thereon erected or that hereafter may
be erected; and that said city shall not alien or convey said
premises to any person or corporation but shall forever keep
and maintain the same as a public ground or square to be
beautified and adorned from time to time as may seem prop-
er and reasonable; and said premises shall never be occupied
for any purpose whatever inconsistent with the uses aforesaid.
A burial place with proper space for monuments within
the present enclosure is hereby reserved for the following in-
dividuals, to wit: The grantors hereof and three other persons
whose near relatives are now interred therein. And it is
further provided that said city shall maintain a suitable en-
closure around the burial lot upon said premises or such en-
closure may be provided by the friends of those interred
therein, the design or plan being first approved by said city.
Provided, however, that if it shall ever be deemed expedient
to convey said premises to the state of New Hampshire to be
preserved and protected by said state, said city may convey the
same to said state upon the conditions herein expressed and
with such other conditions as said city may think it necessary
to impose. The right is hereby granted to said city or its
employees to pass and repass over said Princeton street be-
tween the River road and said premises for the purpose of
carrying out the provisions of this deed. And whenever said
granted premises shall be enclosed as herein provided then
said Princeton street together with the streets surrounding
GEN. JOHN STARK' S HOME FARM. 197
said square as indicated on said map shall become the prop-
erty of said city, but they shall be used as public highways
and for no other purposes whatever."
Subsequently the entire section of this farm from the
Eiver road to the river was acquired by the city, the deed
from the Stark heirs being dated January 3, 1891. It con-
tains about thirty acres, and is known as Stark park. The
three restrictions contained in this last mentioned deed are:
First. To be kept forever as a park and not to be con-
veyed by said city unless to the state of New Hampshire or
the United States for the same use.
Second. No buildings to be erected thereon except such
as are appropriate for park uses.
Third. The city to expend on an average three hundred
dollars a year on the same.
Much has been done to beautify this spot, and at no dis-
tant day it will be regarded as one of our most valued pos-
sessions. Up to the time it was secured by the city this land
had been in the possession of the Stark family since Archi-
bald Stark came here in 1736.
Besides the houses mentioned, many others adorn this sec-
tion of land, among which stand prominently the residences
of the late Charles T. Means, Alonzo H. Weston, Charles M.
Floyd, Charles W. Bickford, Leander W. Gould, Edwin A.
Stratton, Frank E. Putney, Harry J. Lawson, Norwin S.
Bean, Daniel Readey, and Mrs. John B. Varick.
SAMUEL STARK.
North of the John Stark, 3d, land and east of the River
road the General gave to his grandson Samuel, a son of
John, 2d. This ran from the River road as far north as
Rowell street and east to a point twenty-seven rods east of
Union street. In 1821 Samuel Stark built the house now
owned and occupied by the heirs of Malachi Dodge, and in
this house our honored member, Charles Stark, was born in
108 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
1822. His brothers and sisters were also born here. They
were Harriett, Jerome, John, Amanda, who married William
Burpee, and Sarah, who married Capt. Benjamin Eiehardson.
The General also gave Samuel as a part of his farm about ten
acres of land for a pasture, on the bank of the river adjoin-
ing Stark park and running east to the land given to Susan
Stark. The heirs of Samuel Stark sold this farm to George
Aldrich in 1843, and it was afterwards owned by Phinehas
Adams and John S. Yeaton, the latter of whom sold it to its
present owners, viz.: The pasture land on the river to the
state of Xew Hampshire to become a nart of the Industrial
school farm, that part between the Kiver road and Union
street to the Dodge family, and the land east of Union street
to Horace Willey, who lives near the top of the Union street
hill.
SUSAN (STARK) GAMBLE.
To Susan, the daughter of John Stark, 2d, was given five
acres of land on the west side of the River road, adjoining
Stark park on the north and running west to the land given
her brother Samuel, and also five acres of land adjoining on
the east the land given Samuel east of Union street. This
latter piece is now owned by the widow of John S. Gamble
and occupied by herself and her son Charles and family.
Susan married John Gamble, and in 1837 they built the
house on the River road piece of land, where they afterwards
lived. The timber with which this house was constructed
was cut from the five acre lot given Susan, where the Gam-
bles now live. Susan's heirs sold the homestead on the Riv-
er road to John Prince, and he sold it to the state of Xew
Hampshire as a further addition to the Industrial school
farm. The children of John and Susan Gamble were Elea-
nor, John S., Susan S., who married Josiah W. Abbott, and
Archibald. The two sons are now deceased, but both daugh-
ters are now living and are residents of this city.
GEN. JOHN STARK'S HOME FARM. 199
CHARLES STARK.
The next lot north was the General's home place, and be-
came the property of his grandson, Charles Stark, a son of
John Stark, 2d. It contained about one hundred and sixty-five
acres and ran from the river to the Chester line. On this
place the General built his house in 1765, and here he lived
until his death in 1822. The house was situated on the
west side of the Eiver road and was destroyed by fire during
the winter of 1865-66, while occupied by inmates of the
Industrial school. The site of the old well was marked by
Superintendent John C. Bay, and now is all that remains to
show where the old hero's house stood. Tradition has it
that the wall on the line of the River road by this farm was
built by Revolutionary soldiers while awaiting orders from
General Stark to proceed to the front. This wall on the
Industrial school part has been removed, but on the Charles
E. Rowell farm, next above, it still remains.
That part of his farm east of Union street, comprising
about sixty-five acres, Mr. Stark sold to Luther Campbell,
who now owns the same. The house on this farm, occupied
by Mr. Campbell for many years, situated on Union street
next above the house of Horace Willey, formerly stood where
the Elm house at Martin's ferry is now situated, but was moved
to its present location by Mr. Campbell many years ago.
In 1855 Mr. Stark sold for ten thousand dollars that part
of his farm lying west of Union street, containing about one
hundred acres, to the state of New Hampshire as a site for a
proposed reform school. The building was begun in the
spring of 1856 and finished in the fall of 1857 at a cost of
thirty-four thousand dollars. Subsequently the land given by
General Stark to his grandson Samuel, on the bank of the riv-
er for a pasture, was purchased by the state for one thousand
dollars, and thus the whole cost was forty-five thousand dol-
lars. The house was dedicated in May, 1858. This building
200 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
was burned December 20, 1865, and the children were removed
to the General Stark homestead and the Gamble house until
the present structure was ready for occupancy. The super-
intendents of the school have been Brooks Shattuck, Isaac H.
Jones, Edward Ingham, John C. Ray, and Tom W. Robinson,
the present incumbent.
The idea of a reform school appears to have originated with
an eccentric character well known to the earlier inhabitants
of our city, James McK. Wilkins. He was a lawyer and poli-
tician of local repute, and for years had an office in what was
known as the "old ark," a building situated at the corner of
Elm and Amherst streets. By frugality and strict attention
to business he amassed quite a fortune. He was a single man,
lived in his office, boarded himself much of the time, and when
not doing so patronizing only the cheapest restaurants and
boarding houses. By his will his property was left to the state
of K"ew Hampshire for a reform school, and from then until
now the state has received an annual income from his bequest.
His remains now lie in a triangular lot in the Valley cemetery,
his monument is triangular and the lot enclosed in a triangu-
lar iron fence without gate or other entrance.
After selling his farm to the state Charles Stark bought of
the Amoskeag company a small tract of land on the west side
of the River road, about opposite the Frederick Kimball tav-
ern, and here he built the house in which he lived the re-
mainder of his days. It stands on the southwest corner of
Webster street and the River road, and is owned by Eugene
S. Whitney and occupied by Harry G. Clough. Mr. Stark's
only child was Augusta, who married X. P. Whittemore, and
after her decease her heirs sold this estate to Mr. Whitney.
FREDERICK G. STARK.
The Charles Stark part of the General's farm was only
about half as wide on the east side of the River road as on the
west, the north pari of the land east of the road being given
GEN. JOHN STAKK'S HOME FARM. 201
to Frederick G. Stark, a brother of Charles. This was also
bounded east by the Chester line. George Clark bought this
land of Frederick G., and his heirs sold that part between
Union street and the Eiver road to Hoyt & Palmer, the pres-
ent owners, and the part east of Union street to Arah W. Pres-
cott of Hooksett, who has built streets through to the Hook-
sett road and laid the land out into houselots.
GRADUS B. STARK.
To Gradus Bakeman Stark, the oldest son of John Stark,,
2d, was given the next piece north of the land of Charles and
Frederick G., and was the remainder of the GeneraPs home
farm. It was forty-five rods wide and ran easterly from the
river three hundred and fifty rods to the old Chester line. In
the language of a deed of this land now in the possession of
the writer the easterly bound is "a stake and stones standing
twenty-eight feet easterly of a small brook/' The "small
brook" referred to is Kay brook, and the "stake and stones"
would be about where the Hooksett line extended would come.
In 1812 Gradus Stark built his house on the east side of the
Eiver road and very near his southern boundary, and here for
a time the district school was kept.
This farm afterwards passed into the hands of Matthew
Kennedy, then a prominent citizen of the town, and was by
him sold to Capt. John P. Powell in 1842, who occupied the
place for the twenty-six following years. Mr. Powell sold that
part east of Union street to John and Luther Campbell, which,,
after passing through the hands of J. C. H. Vance, Olive M.
Winegar, James G. Warner, George W. Whitford, and Dr.
Clarence M. Dodge, is now the property of Halbert N. Bond.
He also sold the north half of the farm west of the River road
to Abel M. and Charles C. Kenniston, who built the house
now standing thereon. The subsequent owners of the Ken-
niston land have been Ephraim K. Powell, John P. Hanson,
202 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
Eollin C. Dustin, Lizzie Brockway, C. H. Spollett, and George
11. Brown, and in the order named.
In 1868 John P. Eowell sold what remained of his farm to
his son, Ephxaim K., who, in 1876, took down the house built
by Gradus Stark and erected on the same site the one now
standing, which he occupied until his death in 1896 and which
is now owned and occupied by his son, Charles E. Howell.
The section of this farm between Elm and Union streets
is now owned by George H. Brown, the president of our board
of trade, who has graded streets and laid out lots thereon, and
named the place Pine Crest.
VALUATION.
To show the difference in value of this whole farm when
General Stark took it in comparison with what it is now worth,
the writer has conferred with assessors, real estate dealers,
and others supposed to be good judges of the value of such
real estate, and the consensus of opinion appears to be that it
is now worth about three and a half million dollars. By the
first recorded tax list of the town (1765) and after General
Stark had come into possession of this estate, composed most-
ly of sand banks and swamps, his tax amounted to a little less
than six dollars. If that had been the amount of his tax bill
in 1903 the assessors could have found less than three hun-
dred dollars to tax him for. Did he own this property today
he would be asked to contribute over fifty thousand dollars
to help support our city, county, and state. Happy man!
SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC IN MANCHESTER.
A PAPER BY CLARENCE M. PLATTS, READ BEFORE THE
MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION, APRIL 1, 1903.
I come before you tonight, not because of any merit as a
reader or speaker, but because, with you, I am interested in the
traditional and written history of Manchester. It is but a
short time since it, in common with the surrounding towns,
abounded in such material, much of which, for want of care
and interest, has been lost. Not many years ago Manchester
was in possession of Potter's History of Manchester (unbound)
in large numbers, there being but little demand for them at
that time, and to make more room they were removed into a
vault of the lobby under City Hall, where they remained until
ruined by dampness.
In the year 1891 Londonderry had a brick vault constructed
in the town hall at about one thousand dollars' expense, but
owing to improper construction records and books placed in it
were in greater danger from dampness than from a possible
fire. For a long time it was called the town silo. London-
derry, like many towns, possesses valuable records which, in
some way, should be more available to the public. What
is true of Londonderry applies to other towns. Let the towns
furnish copies, or the state take copies, of all such records, or at
least a full index, and deposit them as are the colonial records
in Concord, or some other place where they will be available to
the public. Let New Hampshire, as one of the colonial
states, take as much pride and care of early records and his-
toric places as the state of Massachusetts. The original Massa-
203
204 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
chusetts Bay records at the State House are a monument and
a credit to that state, with each page hermetically sealed they
are not only safe, but available to the public. The Manches-
ter Historical Association has undertaken a good work, which
will be more appreciated as time goes on. This sketch which
I present for your consideration tonight is but a local bit of
traditional history which I hope will be of interest to some
of you at least.
About four miles south of the City Hall, on the Derry road,
there stands a large, two-story brick house, with its long string
of horse sheds like those of a country church, its great, spread-
ing shade trees and its duck pond, through which there ever
runs a little brook (Giles brook) on its way from Long pond
to unite its waters with those of the Little Cohas, or Manter
brook at a point just west of the Stowell graveyard. The
house with its surroundings forms a pleasing picture to the
eye of the passing traveler, and reminds him of a country
tavern of the stage coach days. It is now owned and occupied
by John D. Emery. The house was erected and used as a
tavern with accommodations for man and beast, but has never
proved a financial success. In 1834 it was owned and occu-
pied by Col. Josiah Stowell as a private residence. Colonel
Stowell was a man of considerable importance. We find his
name connected with the early history of Manchester and with
the beginning of the Amoskeag Land & Water Power Com-
pany. He acted as purchasing agent for them at one time.
The name of Josiah Stowell, trader, appears many times on
the records of Eockingham and Hillsborough counties. He
was born in Massachusetts April 3, 1797. Early in life he
removed with his parents, Luther and Lydia Stowell, to Wind-
ham, Vt., into an unfinished log cabin, where he could count
the stars at night through the roof. When about twenty years
old, he purchased his time from his father (there being ten
other children) and removed to Albany, N. Y. Subsequently
SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC IN MANCHESTER. 205
lie located in Derry, N. H., where he engaged in cloth dressing
and carding. From Derry he removed to Manchester, about
1830. In 1842 he removed to Londonderry, Vt., where he
erected a large hotel, store, and mill. In 1854 he removed to
Hudson, Mich., where he died December 11, 1873, aged
.seventy-four years. For the last ten years of his life he was
afflicted with blindness. Colonel Stowell was a very active
man and took great interest in the affairs of the city and state.
He held every office in the militia from ensign to brigadier-
general; he was a member of the governor's staff and took part
in the reception of General LaFayette, also that of General
Jackson, and the laying of the corner-stone at Bunker Hill.
July 14, 1856, he was on the steamer Northern Indiana,
when she burned on Lake Erie. He was three times married:
First to Laura Chapine, September 8, 1817; second, to Henri-
etta Chapine, May 28, 1828; after her death he married for
a third wife Charlotte Barr (cousin of Ira Barr), November 20,
1842.
April 4, 1834, this house was the scene of a remarkable out-
break of smallpox, a disease of which we have been and are
being semi-occasionally reminded. Smallpox at that time was
not as well known as in these days of health boards and gov-
ernment inspectors. It was known then, not as an aggravated
form of the itch, but as a terrible scourge which, from time to
time, had swept over Northern Europe and ravaged the
islands of the sea, carrying away one half the population of
Mexico in 1520; also raging in Iceland and Greenland in 1733.
By some writers it is believed to have been "That mortal con-
tagious distemper" which swept away great numbers of the
American Indians, so that some of the American tribes were
in a measure extinct. The Massachusetts tribes particularly
are said to have been reduced from thirty thousand fighting
men to three hundred, and that where now stands Plymouth,
Mass., all the inhabitants died; that there was not a man,
206 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
woman, or child remaining when the Pilgrims landed in 1620.
In the words of an early historian, "Thus the Lord dealt mer-
<i Fully with the settlers of Plymouth."
No doubt many hair-lifting scenes were thus avoided and
much of Miles Standislrs time saved for other purposes. On
the date mentioned William Davis, a young man stopping with
Colonel Stowell, after a visit to Stowell was taken sick and
confined to his bed. He was given all possible attention by
members of the family. Mrs. Stowell's father and mother,
Jesse and Hannah Chapine, not knowing the nature of the
disease, passed considerable time in the sick man's room. A
short distance north of the Sawyer corner, in a small house,
the site now marked by a large willow tree, lived an English-
man, Jimmie Arwine, a man well spoken of in the community
if he did sometimes tell the young ladies' fortunes (not mis-
fortunes). Tradition relates that Arwine, hearing of the
sickness at the "brick house," called and entered the young
man's room, looking at his flushed and blotched face, ex-
claimed to Mr. and Mrs. Chapine, then in the room, "For
God's sake, what are you in here for? That man has the
smallpox." The consternation caused by this announcement
is better imagined than described. The old people, thor-
oughly frightened, retired to their room.
Mr. C. B. Stowell, Jr., a son of Colonel Stowell, relates that
William Davis came to our house to visit his sister, then board-
ing there, and said he had been in Lowell at work (a shoemaker
by trade). He was a stranger to us all. He wanted to hire
money of Colonel Stowell to pay for damages to a hired team.
My father let him have the money, also a room where he could
work at his trade to repay the loan. At the time he was
taken sick he had been in Lowell at work about two weeks.
On his return he had apparently a hard cold with fever. In
a few days pustules formed which were thought to be chicken-
pox; growing worse the question at once arose, what is it?
SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC IN MANCHESTER. 207
The young man did not give a straight account of his time
in Lowell. Dr. Thomas Wallace, who practiced medicine
from 1822 to 1851, in the neighboring town of Londonderry,
was called in. He, too, seemed in doubt of its nature. Col-
onel Stowell instructed him to have Dr. Warren of Boston
come up, which he did. On entering the house he said: "You
have the smallpox in this house, I recognize the smell/' On
viewing Davis he pronounced it an advancing case of the
disease. All had been exposed. An old shop on the prem-
ises was turned into a smoke house. The doctor and his team
took their departure through clouds of burning sulphur.
April 16, Mr. and Mrs. Chapine were stricken with the dis-
ease, both dying April 26, within a few hours of each other.
The community was aroused, the selectmen of Manchester,
James McQuesten, Gilbert Greeley and Fred D. Stark, caused
a fence to be erected near the Sawyer corner, about one-half
mile from the house. Keepers were appointed and travel over
the Derry road was suspended. The selectmen of London-
derry, David Gilchrist, Eobert Boyd and my grandfather, Col.
James Manter, caused a fence to be erected on the Derry road,
near the junction of Manter mills road. Keepers were
appointed and people who unfortunately dwelt within these
limits were avoided by those living on the outside of the fence,
as erected by the towns. A special town meeting was called
April 28, 1834, in Manchester. It was not to see what action
the town would take in regard to the building of the Mammoth
road, that bone of contention for many years, but to see what
action the town would take to stop the spread of smallpox.
"Voted: — That the selectmen proceed to stop the spread of
smallpox and take such measures as they may think proper."
How far such action extended inside the fence we have
been unable to learn. It gave people in the two towns some-
thing new to talk about besides the Mammoth road. Colonel
Stowell's family found themselves shut in from the world with
208 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
their terrible visitor, dependent on themselves and the efforts
of Dr. Wallace. It seems that Dr. Daniel Flanders, who prac-
ticed medicine in Londonderry from 1830 to 1850, never hav-
ing seen a case of smallpox, made a visit to the house and
family with Dr. Wallace. Not wishing to expose himself he
stood in the open door and looked at the patient, yet, notwith-
standing all his precautions he found himself infected with
the disease, and later had a run of the varioloid, previous to
which he attended a woman in confinement living in London-
derry, I think by the name of Smith. This house was like-
wise quarantined and road closed. The child died. This is
believed to have been the only case outside the "Brick house,"
where it originated.
The late Warren Corning, then a boy at work for Colonel
Stowell, remained with the family. He, too, fell a victim to
the disease. Though his life was despaired of he recovered,
but carried deep marks of its ravages to his death in 1884.
His father, Capt. Benjamin Corning, each morning when the
wind was right, would repair to the hilltop near the house of
Thomas Chase, now occupied by Frank Emery, to learn the
condition of his boy and the stricken family, fearing each time
what it might be. When at last he was carried out east of the
house where his father could see him Mr. Corning could not
recognize his boy, so great had been the change. Two Irish
women were at last secured, immunes from the disease, who
turned the little brook into a laundry, standing each day in
its waters washing out the clothes. (You see there was no
health board, fish warden, or government expert to object.)
Many times we wonder how people of that and even of a later
period lived well up to the century mark when they were so
lamentably ignorant of the laws of health and the giddy way
of the festive microbe. Today we see no mounds like those
along the Weare branch, surmounted with empty lime casks,
that date back manv years. These mounds are monuments to
SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC IN MANCHESTER. 209
modern science and the zeal of government inspectors; like
the kings of England they can do no wrong.
Otherwise than as stated Colonel Stowell and his family
tended their living, and buried their dead in a little plot of
ground northeast of the house. Later the spot selected and
set apart as a place of burial was substantially walled and mon-
uments erected to the memory of the departed. But a subse-
quent owner overthrew walls and removed the monuments,
and it is said used them for a time for door stones; but they
were removed by Colonel Stowell' s orders to the family lot in
the Stowell yard, where they stand today in memory of those
whose remains are in unmarked graves on the hillside, undis-
turbed by the plow, or step of the passing traveler.
Like all contagious diseases, smallpox suddenly appeared
and as suddenly disappeared. Dr. C. 0. Smith, superintendent
of local health and of Quentin's Hospital at Bainsford's island,
near Boston, was summoned and under his direction the prem-
ises were thoroughly fumigated with burning sulphur. Large
quantities of beds, bedding and furniture were burned, buried,
or destroyed. It is said onions were placed in the rooms,
under the doctor's instructions, and so long as contagion re-
mained, pustules would form on the inner covering. The
doctor being a well-known expert from Boston, was paid fifty
dollars for his knowledge and service in the case. I have yet
to learn that Manchester paid any part of the expense incurred.
I am indebted to Mr. C. B. Stowell of Hudson, Mich., for a
copy of the record in the family Bible and other information
from my father's, C. B. Stowell, family Bible.
Manchester, April 4th, 1834, William Davis taken sick with
smallpox at my house — got well.
April 16, 1834, Jesse and Hannah Chapine (Father and
mother-in-law) taken sick with small pox and both died on
the 26th of April, Jesse Chapine J before 9 o'clock p. m., and
Hannah Chapine % before 11 o'clock p. m., M 72. She, 68
vears.
210 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
April 20th, Mary Brown, hired girl living in my family 4
years, taken sick with same disease, died May 2d, JE 34 years.
April 24, James Henry Stowell (son), same disease and on
the 24th had a severe fit — supposed to he dead. Got well —
died in N. V. City, June 12, 1895.
April 26th, Warren Corning (hired boy) attacked by same
disease — life expected to cease for 8 days, but survived. He
died in Manchester.
April 29, Moses Griffin (hired man — negro), same disease.
Was very sick — got well.
Jesse and Hannah Chapine, Mary Brown, Warren Corning
and Moses Griffin had severe cases of smallpox.
Dr. Thomas Wallace attended through sickness.
Dr. Jerome 0. C. Smith of Boston attended 1^ days and
nights.
Dr. Wallace gave closest attention and did well.
(Signed) JOSIAH STOWELL.
Mrs. Chase, a sister of C. B. Stowell and a daughter of
Colonel Stowell, is now living in Chicago at an advanced age,
and is the only surviving member of the family. She lived
in Manchester, N. H., in 1834, and although but a small girl
at that time acted as nurse to the victims.
William Davis, w T ho imported the smallpox, died in London-
derry, Vt., in April, 1854.
District No. 9, Londonderry, N. H., was visited by small-
pox in the sixties. The family of Edward Clark was afflicted.
The road was fenced and guarded. No fatalities resulted.
We have tried to present you what we have been able to
gather from record and tradition. We believe you will find
it substantially correct.
MANCHESTER AS A VILLAGE.
BY WILLIAM E. MOORE.
Those very aged residents present who are old enough to
have been alive in 1846, or earlier, will bear witness that the
memory of the scenes and events of their childhood and early
youth is often more vivid than the recollection of those more
recent. It is possible that persons, and especially places, re-
called from a distant and rapidly fading past may be colored
with a sort of childish exaggeration, but I indulge the hope
that nothing is unimportant which relates to early Manchester.
I came from Cambridge, Mass., late in November, 1841, by
rail to Nashua, then the terminus, and thence in a sleigh-stage
to Manchester, driving directly to the "Old Ark/' on Amherst
street. In the L extension lived Walter French, Dr. Thomas
Brown, and others. Mr. French then kept a periodical store
in the basement, afterwards carried on for many years by E, K.
Rowell.
Dr. Tom Brown was my uncle, and many will well remem-
ber him and his children, Moses, Jacob, Thomas, Lucretia and
Mary. The doctor died in 1848 of Asiatic cholera, and the
others now are all dead except Moses. The doctor was a
noted temperance reformer in his day, and was very widely
and unfavorably known by most of the liquor dealers.
Roughly speaking, the settled limits of the town, on the
town side, then extended from Merrimack to Bridge street,
north and south, and from Elm to Pine street on the east,
with here and there many vacant lots, and on the corporation
side from Central to Spring street, quite a space between being
also vacant.
211
212 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
I well remember the old town house, and the incident of a
big dog belonging to Cheney's Express Company crawling
from the belfry to the steep roof and being killed by sliding to
the sidewalk. I saw in the corner window a wildcat killed on
the road to GofiVs Falls. The city was surrounded by woods,
north, east and south, mostly hard pine, with large, open and
unfenced clearings towards Hallsville, Towlesvillc and Janes-
ville. The old "rye-field," commonly the circus ground, and
the pine plain northeast, where Emerson displayed firew r orks
for several years, will be recalled.
Doubtless many remember the old sand lots, above Bridge
street, afterwards known as "Pigville." From here to the falls
were not more than two or three dwellings, one occupied by
Mr. Webber. The small wooden schoolhouse was then stand-
ing on the old Falls road. The original McGregor bridge then
spanned the river, but was impassible for teams and unsafe for
foot travel, but I crossed it more than once when a boy.
Union building had an early and changeful occupancy.
Here was the old Athenaeum, David Hill, librarian ; a debating
room where old John Houston, the blacksmith, held his
ground against all comers. In disposing of the problem of
life he said, "I am, therefore I exist; I exist, therefore I have
the right to be." Here also was the office of the Manchester
Messenger, and in another room John H. Goodale's Democrat,
while in the attic Otis Eastman and a company of stage-struck
juveniles rehearsed terrible tragedy. The Jackson Brothers
then sold dry goods in the room now occupied by the Manches-
ter bank.
The Methodist church was entered from "cat alley" by a
broad Might of stairs, several stores taking up the Elm-street
front. Here Simpson & Sargent sold dry goods. Mr. Simpson
had an old bachelor brother and a sister on Hanover street,
between Chestnut and Pine, as good as they were eccentric,
and with this worthy couple I was put out to live for a time.
MANCHESTER AS A VILLAGE. 21 &
The Museum, at the corner of Pleasant street, was a large,
three-story block. Tewksbury's bookstore held a part of the
street front, and up one flight was the museum itself. I re-
member the high glass cases, in which were a few mounted
birds and stuffed animals, and around the room was an assort-
ment of curiosities. The whole collection was meagre, but it
never was increased and finally disappeared, I never knew
when or where. On the upper floor was the theatre. The
seats were raised, there was a good stage, a fine drop curtain
of green broadcloth, and a considerable outfit of scenery.
Here tragedy, comedy, farce and melodrama by turns held the
boards. Here Joe Walker, an elocutionary graduate of Eod-
ney Kendall, made his debut as Cassio, and here John N". Bruce
played Eoderigo and various other light comedy characters,
being particularly effective as Natz Tiek, in the Swiss Cottage.
Walter Dignam was first violin and leader of the orchestra.
After the Museum theatre was permanently closed, perform-
ances were given for a time in the old Baptist church, which
had been metamorphosed into a theatre, the old pews, cushions
and all, being thus profanely diverted from their original
purpose.
On the east side of Elm street there was a row of cheap
wooden buildings, usually a story and a half high, but no two
alike, with gable ends to the street. Aside from Shepherd's
tavern, Kidder & Dunklee's store, and the City hotel, I re-
member no brick buildings; on Merrimack street none, on
Manchester street one besides the Baptist church and on Han-
over street none except Kiddie's building. On Amherst and
around Concord square, including Vine street, were, so to
speak, the houses of the nobility and gentry — all American
families, and among them many of the most prominent citi-
zens of the town. Concord square was then cultivated by the
abuttors, each having a little plot in which were planted beet,
parsnip, carrot, cabbage and onion seeds — never anything
214 MANCHESTER HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
else — and I have an impressioD that any one surreptitiously
putting: in a squash seed would have been mobbed.
I well remember seeing the great comet of 1843 from the
steps of Dr. Wallace's church, as it nightly shook its horrid
hair to the south of the meridian. Hard by this church was,
time out of mind, a livery and boarding stable, then kept by
Colonel Chase. He had a son John, and two daughters, one
a blonde and the other a brunette. I find I have covered but
a small fraction of the ground as indicated by my notes, but
before closing let us take a stroll up Elm street, and salute a
few of our old acquaintances.
The street is unpaved, but the sand is moistened in
spots by the one watering cart then in commission, operated
by Micajah Ingham. On either hand are groups of loungers
who hear the clangor of a bell, followed by the lusty tones of
Old Adams, the town crier. A larger crowd opposite Bill
Putney's "Eagle" are watching a fight between two bulldogs,
the property of the town's butchers, Eobinson and Hobbs.
The fight goes on for two hours or more, the owners looking
on with the rest and no one interfering. As one dog grew
tired he would lie still and let the other chew him till he got
rested. Then the other dog would be chewed. The fights
were frequent, usually ending in a draw, and to this day it has
never been decided which was the better dog. A straggling
file of men wiggled out of Riddle's building, where the police
court had been held by Judge Potter, and among them is old
Riddle himself, with his tall silk hat, which he continued to
wear until after the close of the Civil war. Finally we halt in
front of the Old Ark, the point from which we started. Here
we have a chat with Fred Smyth, just then a clerk in a grocery
store at a salary of a dollar a week. He is much interested in
mesmerism, and will probably ask you to step into the back
room and let him put you to sleep. I assume that you have
entered and are for the time unconscious, but before you come
out of your trance, Time's drop curtain falls.
PRESERVING PLACES OF HISTORIC IN-
TEREST.
Societies are multiplying in the older East, says Charles M.
Skinner in Saturday Evening Post, that have in view the pres-
ervation of places of historic interest. For the hand of the
spoiler is on the land, and one hears with grief of the destruc-
tion of famous old houses where the value of the real estate
thus cleared barely pays the contractor for carting off the
bricks. If a building becomes so old as to be dangerous, senti-
ment will not and should not stand in the way of its removal,
but in many instances the houses and churches were put up
in the good old days when the jerry builder had no standing,
and when homes were not for their makers alone, but their
children and the children of their children. In all such in-
stances a little money for repair would probably put the place
into something very near its original soundness and attrac-
tiveness.
We should be able to read history more clearly if we kept about
us more of the actualities that have had to do with history.
An old house tells more to us, in a glance, of the state of the
arts and industries of the time it marks, of the social condition
of the people who made it, of their relations to the soil, than
we could gain in some kinds of reading. Nor has our archi-
tecture so determined itself that the study of these old houses
has ceased to be a gain to us. Indeed, the Colonial renais-
sance, which is especially fitting to an American environment,
and which contributes plentifully to the charm of many of
our towns, would have been deferred indefinitely, and would,
indeed, have been impossible, had it not been for opportuni-
215
21f) MANCHESTEB HISTORIC COLLECTIONS.
ties for the study of dignified forms of construction offered by
halls and residences in parts of New England and the Middle
States.
Apart from these more scholastic or material advantages,
there is reason enough for preserving the old buildings that
have historic interest, and for keeping the squatter out of our
famous battlefields. For they appeal to patriotism, and they
have a part in maintaining the traditions which encourage the
best tendencies of the people. Who does not realize the per-
sonality of George Washington more keenly after he has wan-
dered through the quaint rooms of Mount Vernon, and
roamed about its perfumed gardens? And who, thus realiz-
ing, does not feel a new admiration for the founder of the
nation? Who but a clod is not thrilled on his first visit to
that room in Philadelphia, so big with meaning for the future
of the country and the world, or to the white hall of Faneuil, or
to the taverns and monuments lining that road to Concord
which was dim with the dust of trampling thousands one
April morning, and wet with patriot blood?
National feeling always rises to emergencies in our country,
yet the presence of our monuments tends to keep it alive
through periods of peace, and the memorials of men who
were strong and resolute in courage and virtue, who sacrificed
self on the altar of a common good, who held their country
highest in their love, are reminders that there is always place
lor their successors, not alone in the nation's councils but in
the hearts of its people. The vandal who destroys that which
is held sacred destroys more than material forms. We need
every reminder, not alone for our own contemplation, but for
that of our descendants and that of the millions who are cross-
ing the seas to find homes among us, that in this land one
may be not merely free but noble, and that the reward of a
people is his who shall be worthy of its love.
HISTORIC QUARTERLY
SUPPLEMENT.
Vol. III. January-March, 1902. No. 1
An Illustrated Magazine, published by the Manchester His-
toric Association, containing the papers read at the meetings,
with the proceedings of the Association, and miscellaneous arti-
cle and items of general interest.
Terms, in advance, $1.00. Single copy, 25 cents.
Address HISTORIC QUARTERLY,
G. Waldo Browne, Editor,
Manchester, N. H,
MANCHESTER HISTORIC ASSOCIATION.
A preliminary meeting, called for the purpose of forming a
historical society devoted to collecting, preserving and publish-
ing whatever matter relating to the early and later history of
this vicinity that might be obtained, was held at the Board of
Trade Rooms, Kennard Building, on the evening of December
4, 1895. There were present at this meeting, John C. French,
Josiah Carpenter, John Dowst, John G. Crawford, Edgar J.
Knowlton, George C. Gilmore, Edwin P. Richardson, George
W. Browne, Sylvester C. Gould, Edward J. Burnham, Henry W.
Herrick, Herbert W. Eastman, David L. Perkins, Joseph Kid
der, George F. Willey, and John G. Hutchinson.
Meeting was opened with remarks by Mr. Willey, followed
by all present, who unanimously declared that they were in
favor of such an organization. Mr. French was chosen chair-
man, and Mr. Dowst secretary. Upon motion it was voted that a
committee of five be appointed by the chairman to draft a con-
stitucion and report at a subsequent meeting. This commit-
II MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
tee consisted of Messrs. Browne, Gilmore, Gould, Crawford,
and Dowst.
At an adjourned meeting, held December 18, 1895, chairman
French presiding. Articles of Association, and a Constitution
were submitted by the committee, and accepted. A committee
consisting of Dowst Crawford, Browne, Gould, and Gilmore,
appointed by chairman French to nominate a board of officers
for the ensuing year, retired to the committee room, and sub-
sequently returned and reported the names of the board, and
the same were unanimously elected as follows :
President, John C. French ; Vice-Pres. Henry W. Herrick
and Joseph Kidder ; Treasurer, John Dowst ; Recording Sec-
retary, Herbert W. Eastman ; Corresponding Secretary, George
W. Browne • Librarian, Sam C. Kennard ; Historiographer,
George C. Gilmore ; Executive Committee, John C. French (ex-
officio), Herbert W. Eastman (ex officio), John G. Crawford,
Edwin P. Richardson, Josiah Carpenter, David L. Perkins, and
David Cross ; Publication Committee, George F. Willey, Edgar
J. Knowlton, Sylvester C. Gould, William H. Morrison, and
Francis B. Eaton. As the first-named of publication committee
did not become a member of the association, George W. Browne
at a subsequent meeting was elected to that place.
The Constitution provided that the name of the organization
should be The Manchester Historic Association, and that
quarterly meetings should be held through the year on the
third Wednesdays of March, June, September and December,
the last constituting the annual meeting, at which time a board
of officers should be elected for the ensuing year. The place
of holding the meeting was left to the choice of the President.
An adjourned meeting was held on January 1, 1896, to re-
ceive the Articles of Association, with such signatures as may
have been secured during the interval. At this meeting it was
voted to date the organization of the association from this day.
The following persons signed the Articles of Incorporation and
thus became the incorporators of the association :
SUPPLEMENTARY MISCELLANY. Ill
ORIGINAL MEMBERS. 1
Moody Currier, David L. Perkins,
George C. Gilmore, George W. Browne,
Joseph Kidder, Charles B. Sturtevant,
John C. French, Herbert W. Eastman,
David Cross, Edgar J. Knowlton,
Josiah Carpenter, William E. Moore,
Henry W. Herrick. Sam C. Kennard,
John Dowst, Francis B. Eaton,
Edwin P. Richardson, William H. Morrison,
Sylvester C. Gould, David Perkins.
John G. Crawfofd,
The first quarterly meeting according to the provision of the
constitution, was held on the evening of March 19, 1896, in the
Board of Trade Rooms, at which time David L. Perkins read
the first paper before the Historic Association, which was entitled
" Reminiscences of Manchester, 1841-1896."
From March 19, 1896, to the annual meeting, held December
18, 1901, all the meetings were held in the Board of Trade
Rooms through the courtesy of that organization, and at nearly
every meeting a paper was read or an address given. The
elections of officers have always been harmonious, and credit
is due tothem for the great interest they have always taken
in the association.
On January 10, 1898, the association met the great loss by
death of its Recording Secretary, Herbert W. Eastman, who had
ever been a willing and faithful officer and worker.
On January 8, 1900, almost two years later, the death of the
President, John C. French occurred, which removed one of the
originators and most active promoters of the association.
The other members, who have been removed by death, and
nearly of whom have been earnest workers, were as follows :
Andrew Bunton, June 18, 1897 > David L. Perkins, March 2
1898 ; Moody Currier, August 23, 1898; Charles H. Bartlett,
January 25, 1900; William E. Moore, October 22, 1900; Fred
G. Hartshorn, February 26, 1901 ; Allen N. Clapp, May 18,
1 Three others signed the articles but never became members.
IV MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
1901 ; John M. Chandler, December 5, 1901 ; William E.
Truesdale, January 8, 1902 ; Luther S. Proctor, March 1, 1902 ;
William P. Merrill, March 5, 1902 ; Joseph R. Weston, March
28, 1902.
On March 16, 1902, Bayard C. Ryder was elected to the office of
recording secretary to fill the vacancy caused by the decease of
Herbert W. Eastman, which position he held until March 19,
1902, when his resignation was tendered and accepted, he hav-
ing accepted a clerkship in Washington, D. C. Henry W. Her-
rick, first vice president, served as president the remainder of
the official year made vacant by the decease of John C. French,
and on December 19, 1900, was elected president, and is now
serving his second year in that office. On December 19, 1900,
Joseph Kidder was elected first vice-president and Joseph W. Fel-
lows second vice-president. George W. Browne was elected
at the annual meeting in 1896 to the first place on the publica-
tion committee and has held that position to the present time.
Fred W. Lamb was elected to the office of librarian at the an-
nual meeting December 15, 1897, and still holds that position.
The other changes have been slight, and if, at times, the work
has progressed slowly, it has nevertheless shown a creditable
result in the holding of interesting meetings, and the publica-
tion of Volumes I and IT, " Manchester Historic Collections/'
of over 300 pages each, and Vol. Ill commencing with this
number, these volumes being issued in regular quarterly parts,
which contain the papers read before the association, other
historical contributions, with the proceedings of the meetings
appended with suplementary miscellany.
During the year 1901 the association received an inestimable
benefit from the personal efforts of Captain David Perkins, who
solicited and secured nearly 275 new members, thus making
the present membership 325. With this great gain in its patron-
age, influence, and available funds from dues, the association
gives much promise of increased usefulness.
At the burning of the Kennard Building on the night of Jan-
uary 14, 1902, the association met with its first great loss, being
SUPPLEMENTARY MISCELLANY. V
all of its papers, books, pamphlets, collections, and records, ex-
cept a few volumes which were at the home of George W.
Browne, and a few old deeds and papers at the home of the
librarian Fred W. Lamb. Fortunately the Publication Com-
mittee had its office in Mr. S. C. Gould's office, and nearly all
of the numbers of Vol. II of the published " Collections," in-
cluding the late William E. Moore's " Contribution to the His-
tory of Old Derryfield," were thus saved. Fifty full sets of Vol. I
of the " Collections," stored in the Kennard Building, were
burned besides nearly 50 copies each of Parts 2 and 3 of Vol. I.
One hundred full sets in parts of Vol. I were sent to the bind-
ery a few days before the fire and thus fortunately were saved.
Already many of the sets of publications published by other
societies have generously been furnished to this association,
and the librarian feels hopeful that there will soon be restored
in a large measure the loss to the library resulting from the fire.
In 1898 the Association published the Frst Part of Vol. I, a
pamphlet of over one hundred pages, which was later followed by
two more parts ; then the three parts were gathered constituting
Volume I. Following this a quarterly publication has been
issued containing the papers and contributions, and this quar-
terly for 1901, including the William E. Moore papers already
mentioned, completed Volume II, so with the current year the
publication enters on its third volume with an edition of one
thousand copies.
The following is the list of papers read before the association
since its organization. January r, 1896 :
Mar. 19, 1896. Reminiscences of Manchester, 1841-1896,
By David L. Perkins.
June 17, 1896, Captain John Moore's Company at Bunker Hill,
George C. Gilmore.
June 17, 1896. New Hampshire Men at Louisburg and Bun-
ker Hill, William H. Morrison.
Sept. 16, 1896. Boating on the Merrimack, George W.Browne.
Dec. 23, 1896 Fort William and Mary, John G. Crawford.
Dec. 23, 1896. Derryfield Social Library, William H. Huse.
VI MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
i
Contributions to the History of Old Derryfleld,
William E. Moore.
The Manter Mills, William H. Huse.
Etymology Indian Language, New Hampshire.
John G. Crawford.
Hon. Samuel Blodget, George W. Browne.
Proclamation Money, John G. Crawford.
Home Life of Major-General John Stark,
Henry W. Herrick.
Proprietors' Records of Tyng Township, with
Editorial Notes, George W. Browne.
Joseph Henry Stickney, Henry W. Herrick.
Address on New Hampshire History,
Albert S. Bachellor.
Old Hand-Tub Days in Manchester,
Fred W. Lamb.
Colonel John Goffe, Gordon Woodbury.
Early Settlement at Kelley's Falls,
William E. Moore.
Manchester Fire Department (Second Paper).
Fred W. Lamb.
The Indians of the Merrimack Valley.
Erastus P. Jewell.
General James Wilson, James F. Briggs.
Early Recollections of Manchester,
Joseph Kidder.
Dec. 18, 1901. The Old Bridge-Street Pound, Orrin H. Leavitt.
All the above papers have been printed, excepting the addresses
of Messrs. Jewell and Bachellor, which have not been procured.
In addition to this list of papers the following contributions
have been also printed :
Vol. I. Old Derryfleld and Young Manchester,
By David L. Perkins.
" " Grace Fletcher, John C. French.
" " New Hampshire Branch Society of Cincinnati,
John C. French.
" " Stark's First Fight with the British, Fred W. Lamb.
Mar. 17,
1897.
Mar. 17,
1897.
Mar. 17,
1897.
June 16,
1897.
June 16,
1897.
Sept. 15,
i89 7 .
Sept. i Sl
, 1897.
June 22,
1898.
June 22,
1898.
Sept. 21,
1898.
Mar. 15,
1899.
Sept. 20,
1899.
Sept. 20,
1899.
June 20,
1900.
Oct. 3,
1900.
Oct. 16,
1901.
SUPPLEMENTARY MISCELLANY. VII
" " Anecdotes of General and Molly Stark, Fred W. Lamb.
" " Bibliography of John Stark, Sylvester C. Gould.
Vol. I. Election Sermons in New Hampshire, S. C. Gould.
" " Author of •' The Sweet By and By," S. C. Gould.
,, .. „ . , ,, , 4 (Herbert W.Eastman,
Semi-centennial,Manchester, -J Fred w LamD .
" " Sketches of Deceased Members, Francis B Eaton.
Vol. II. Contributions to the History of Old Derryfield,
William E. Moore.
" " Hon. Allen Newcomb Clapp, Henry W. Herrick.
" " Fred G. Hartshorn, George W. Browne.
" " Miscellaneous Notes and Items,
Vol. III. A Sketch of Dunbarton, N. H., Miss Ella Mills.
" " Cholera in Manchester, 1849-1854, George C. Gilmore #
At the present time about thirty papers are being prepared
for the meetings of the associations and for publication, many
of them being of interest and importance in connection with
the early and contemporary history of Manchester and sur-
rounding towns.
PROCEEDINGS.
FIRST QUARTERLY MEETING HELD MARCH 1 9, I902.
President Henry W. Herrick presiding, the meeting was
called to order in the Odd-Fellows Banquet Hall at eight o'clock
p. m. In the absence of the Recording Secretary Fred W.
Lamb was chosen pro tern.
George W. Browne in behalf of Mr. Lamb presented the
association with a scrap-book containing the records of previ-
ous meetings as they had been reported in the daily press from
time to time, and suggested that through the efforts of a com-
mittee the records might be made complete and verified so
as to be accepted by the association at some future meeting as
the official records. The gift of Mr. Lamb was accepted, and
a vote of thanks was passed for the same. A committee of
three was then authorized to be appointed by the President,
and the following were selected for the purpose and to report at
VIII MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
the second quarterly meeting in June : George W. Browne,
Fred W. Lamb, and George C. Gilmore.
Reuben L. Reed, of South Acton, Mass., was present and
then addressed the association in an interesting speech of
thirty minutes describing a gavel he had been instrumental in
making of historic woods, and which, with a block and box in
which to keep it, he presented to the association. A book des-
scribing the woods also accompanied the gavel. The response
was made by George C. Gilmore, and the gift was unanimously
accepted. A committee consisting of President Herrick, Sec-
retary Lamb, and Cor. Secretary Browne was chosen to prepare
resolutions of thanks to be presented at the next meeting.
The names of 25 applicants for membership, secured mainly
by Captain David Perkins, were then read and unanimously
elected to membership.
The report of the librarian showed that the recent loss of the
library in the Kennard Building fire was being rapidly replaced
with generous donations from societies and individuals.
The report of the publication committee showed that fifty
sets of Vol. I of the Historic collections had been lost by the
Kennard fire, as also about fifty numbers of Parts 2 and 3.
None of the Moore Contributions were lost, and only twelve
copies of No. 1, Vol. II of The Historic Quarterly. The
report was accepted.
A vote of thank was extended to Mrs. William E. Moore for
further donations of copies of the " Contributions to the His-
tory of Old Derryfield," and some manuscript papers of the late
Mr. Moore.
Reuben L. Reed was elected an honorary member of the
association, and Vols. I and II of the Collections were voted to
him by the association.
A paper left by the late William E. Moore on " Manchester
Fifty Years Ago," was read by Orrin H. Leavitt. Also a paper
written by G. Waldo Browne upon " Derryfield in the Revolu-
tion," was read by the author.
Meeting then adjourned.
HISTORIC QUARTERLY
SUPPLEMENT.
Vol. III. April-June, 1902. No. 2.
An Illustrated Magazine, published by the Manchester His-
toric Association, containing the papers read at the meetings,
with the proceedings of the Association, and miscellaneous arti-
cle and items of general interest.
Terms, in advance, $1,00. Single copy, 25 cents.
Address HISTORIC QUARTERLY,
G. Waldo Browne, Editor,
Manchester, N. H.
PROCEEDINGS.
QUARTERLY MELTING HELD JUNE 1 8, 1902.
President Herrick called meeting to order at 8 o'clock P. M.
in Masonic Banquet Hall, Pembroke Block, about fifteen mem-
bers and visitors being present.
In the absence of ihe secretary George C. Gilmore was
chosen secretary pro tern. Reading of the records of the last
Quarterly meeting omitted by vote.
Frank W. Sargeant was elected permanent Recording Secre-
tary to fill the unexpired term, and Mr. Sargeant assumed the
duties of his office at once.
Geo. Waldo Browne, in behalf of the committee, submitted
the following resolutions upon the gift of the gavel to the Asso-
ciation by Reuben L. Reed. Esq., and his associates :
X MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
Manchester, N. H., March 28, 1902.
At the regular Quarterly meeting of the Manchester His-
toric Association held March 19, 1902, upon motion of Col.
George C. Gilmore, it was unanimously voted that a committee
of three, consisting of the officers of the Association, should
be chosen to submit at the next meeting resolutions of thanks
for the beautiful gift of a gavel and block made of over
sixty varieties of historic woods, and presented by Mr. Reuben
L. Reed and others. This committee accordingly submit the
following
RESOLUTIONS OF THANKS.
Whereas The Manchester Historic Association, appreci-
ating the fitness and the value attached to the gavel and block
made of historic woods and so generously bestowed upon the
association, and realizing the time, research and expense of
procuring the respective parts composing this unique instru-
ment, be it
Resolved, That the Manchester Historic Association
extend its thanks to the donors, Mr. Reuben L. Reed and the
several individuals and societies who have lent him their assist-
ance, and furthermore, be it
Resolved, That the Association will ever hold in grateful
remembrance the courtesy and fraternal good will of the action.
Resolved, That these resolutions be made a part of our
records, and that a copy be sent to the donors through their
agent.
Sincerely and fraternally submitted,
Henry W. Herrick, President,
Frank W. Sargeant, Rec. Secretary,
George W. Browne, Cor. Secretary,
Committee on Resolutions.
Mr. Reuben L. Reed, South Acton, Mass.
XII MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
The Publication Committee reported progress in the matter
of publications, and was given authority to secure and publish
the series of articles written by the late John C. French upon
the McClary family.
The following persons were elected to active membership in
the association : Roswell H. Hassam, Noyes B Cummings,
Daniel H. Dickey, Frank L Way, Mrs. Annie M. French, all
of this city, and Selwyn B. Kidder of Chicago.
Notice was given to change the constitution so that the regu-
lar Quarterly meetings shall be held on the first Wednesday of
January, April, July, and October of each year, action to be
taken on this matter at the next Quarterly meeting in September.
Announcement was made by the President of valuable dona
tions to the library, including among others many valuable
papers and books belonging to the library of the late Hon.
Jacob F. James.
At the close of the business session John Foster, Esq., read
an exceedingly interesting and valuable paper entitled " The
Story of a Private Soldier in the Revolution, Moses Fellows,
of Salisbury, N. H." Mr. Foster received the closest attention
of his listeners throughout his address, and was given a unani
mous vote of thanks at its close. The paper will be published
in the Collections of the Association shortly.
G. Waldo Browne followed Mr. Foster with an address upon
"Captain John Lovewell and the * Snow-Shoe Men ' of Old
Dunstable."
The meeting adjourned after a short discussion upon the
advisability of securing permanent headquarters for the society.
HISTORIC QUARTERLY
SUPPLEMENT.
Vol. III. July-September, 19.02. No. 3
An Illustrated Magazine, published by the Manchester His-
toric Association, containing; the papers read at the meetings,
with the proceedings of the Association, and miscellaneous arti-
cles and items of general interest.
Terms, in advance, $1.00. Single copy, 25 cents.
Address HISTORIC QUARTERLY,
G-. Waldo Browne, Editor,
Manchester, N. H.
PROCEEDINGS-
third QUARTERLY MEETING HELD SEPT. 1 7, T902.
The regular Quarterly meeting was held at Walker's Hall.
The meeting was called to order by the president, but as there
were not enough members present to constitute a quorum, it
was voted to adjourn to Sept. 24, to meet at the same place.
ADJOURNED MEETING, SEPT. 24, 1902.
President Herrick presiding, seven members being present,
the reading of the minutes of preceding meetings was omitted
by vote.
Resignation of Fred W. Lamb, librarian, was read and ac-
cepted, and in recognition of the valuable services he had done
for the association, he was accorded a unanimous vote of thanks.
XIV MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
The following names, secured by Captain Perkins, were then
read and the persons unanimously voted members of the asso-
ciation : Herbert M. Moody, Fred H. Bates.
G. W. Browne reported that suitable rooms could be secured
in the new Kennard, and the committee chosen to secure quar-
ters were requested to investigate and report at the next meet-
ing.
Adjourned to meet October 8, at rooms of the Second Na-
tional Bank.
Frank W. Sargeant, Rec. Sec.
ADJOURNED MEETING HELD OCT. 8, 1902.
At the adjourned meeting of the Association held at rooms of
the Second National Bank the following members were present:
Messrs. Herrick, Fellows, Carpenter, Eaton, Hadley, Gould,
Burnham, Challis, Clapp, and Browne.
In the absence of the recording secretary, G. Waldo Browne
was elected secretary pro tern, and received the oath of office
from J. W. Fellows, J. P. Reading of records of last meeting
omitted.
Voted upon motion of Mr. Fellows that election of librarian
to fill vacancy be laid upon the table until the annual meeting.
Upon presentation of name by President Herrick, Mrs. Olive
Rand Clarke was elected to active membership in the Associa-
tion.
G. W. Browne offering requests for withdrawal upon the parts
of the respective members, it was voted that their requests be
granted: Rev. William H. Morrison, Brockton, Mass ; Rev.
Samuel Rose, Merrimack, N. H. ; Mr. Walter S. Noyes, Little-
ton, and Mr. Henry N. Hurd, Manchester.
Upon motion it was voted that bill of incidental expenses in-
curred by G. W. Browne as chairman of Publication Committee,
be paid by the Treasurer. Amount of bill, $22.22.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. XV
Voted that committee on permanent quarters be authorized to
secure rooms in the Kennard or elsewhere, as they thought best.
The amendment to the Constitution then taken from the table
it was unanimously voted that the same be accepted, so that the
time of holding the annual meeting shall be on the first Wednes-
day in January of each year, and that the Quarterly meetings
be held on the first Wednesdays of April, July and October.
Accordingly the next Annual meeting will be held on Wednes-
day, Jan. 7, 1903.
Upon motion of Mr. Browne, Messrs. William H, Morrison
and Walter S. Noyes were elected honorary members.
Following remarks by Messrs Fellows, Herrick, Clapp, Eaton
and others relative to articles in preparation for future publica-
tion, the meeting adjourned without date.
G. Waldo Browne, Rec. Sec. Pro Tern.
OLD NEW ENGLAND ROOFTREES.
(book review.)
The Romance of Old New England Roofthees, by Mary C. Craw-
ford ; L. C. Page & Co., Pubs., Boston, 12mo., 390pp., 30 illustrations,
$1 25. For sale by W. P. Goodman, of this city.
The above title sets forth succinctly a work that must appeal
strongly to our readers. In well chosen language the author
narrates some of the most interesting incidents, as well as giving
particular descriptions, clinging about the old rooftrees she has
selected, giving enough of the romantic to impress the quaint
homesteads and the lives of their occupants very vividly upon
the mind. There were twenty four subjects chosen, selected so
as to cover New England. Among those most likely to interest
our readers we notice the Governor Wentworth House at Ports,
mouth, N. H. ; Red Horse Tavern, Sudbury, Mass. ; Pepperell
House, Kittery, Me.; Williams House, Deerfield, Mass, and of
more especial interest to readers of the Quarterly, the Stark
XVI MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
Homestead, Dumbarton. A fine halftone of the old mansion
accompanies the article. In fact, the thirty-odd pictures of the
subjects treated greatly enhance ihe value as well as the beauty
of the book. The following extracts from the description of the
Stark place afford an apt specimen of the happy style of the
work :
Molly Stark's Gentleman-Son.
Of the quaint ancestral homes still standing in the old Granite
State, none is more picturesque or more interesting from the
historical view point than the Stark house in the little town of
Dunbarton, a place about five miles' drive out from Concord,
over one of those charming country roads, which properly make
New Hampshire the summer and autumn Mecca of those who have
been ''long in populous city pent." Rather oddly, this house
has, for all its great wealth of historical interest, been little
known to the general public. The Starks are a conservative, as
well as an old family, and they have never seen fit to make of
their home a public show-house. Yet those who are privileged
to visit Dunbarton and its chief boast, this famous house, al"
ways remember the experience as a particularly interesting one.
Seldom, indeed, can one find in these da>s a house like this,
which, for more than one hundred years, has been occupied by
the family for whom it was built, and through all the changes and
chances of temporal affairs has preserved the characteristics of
revolutionary times.
This imposing old mansion was built by Caleb, the son of
Gen. John Stark.
Caleb Stark was a very. remarkable man. Born at Dunbar-
ton, December 3, 1759, he was present while only a lad at the
battle of Bunker Hill, standing side by side with some of the
veteran rangers of the French war, near the rail fence, which
extended from the redoubt to the beach of the Mystic River.
In order to be at this scene of conflict, the boy had left home
secretly some days before, mounted on his own horse, and armed
only with a musket. After a long, hard journey he managed to
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. XV11
reach the Royall house in Medford, which was his father's head-
quarters at the time, the very night before the great battle. And
the general, though annoyed at his son's manner. of coming,
recognized that the lad had done only what a Stark must do at
such a time, and permitted him to take part in the next day's
fight.
After that, there followed for Caleb a time of great social
opportunity, which transformed the clever, but unpolished New
Hampshire boy into as fine a young gentleman as was to be
found in the whole country. The Royall house, it will be re-
membered, was presided over in the troublous war times by the
beautiful ladies of the family, than whom no more cultured and
distinguished women were anywhere to be met. And these,
though Tory to the backbone, were disposed to be very kind and
gracious to the brave boy whom the accident of war had made
their guest.
So it came about that even before he reached manhood's estate
Caleb Stark had acquired the grace and polish of Europe. Nor
was the lad merely a carpet knight. So abiy did he serve his
father that he was made the elder soldier's a'd-de-camp, when
the father was made a brigadier-general, and by the time the
war closed, was himself Major Stark, though scarcely twenty-
four years old.
Soon after peace was declared, the young major came into
his Dunbarton patrimony, and in 1784, in a very pleasant spot
in the midst of his estate, and facing the broad highway leading
from Dunbarton to Weare, he began to build his now famous
house. It was finished the next year, and in 1787, the young
man, having been elected town treasurer of Dunbarton, resolved
to settle down in his new home, and brought there as his wife,
Miss Sarah McKinstrey, a daughter of Dr. William McKinstrey,
formerly of Taunton, Massachusetts, a beautiful and cultivated
girl, just twenty years old.
Beside building the family homestead, Caleb Stark did two
other things which serve to make him distinguished even in a
XV111 MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
family where all were great. He entertained Lafayette, and
he accumulated the family fortune. Both these things were
accomplished at Pembroke, where the major early established
some successful cotton mills. The date of his entertainment of
Lafayette was, of course, 1825, the year when the marquis, after
laying the corner stone of our monument on Bunker Hill, made
his triumphal tour through New Hampshire.
The bed upon which the great Frenchman slept during his
visit to the Starks is still carefully preserved, and those guests
who have had the privilege of being entertained by the present
owners of the house can bear testimony to the fact that the
couch is an extremely comfortable one. The room in which
this bed is the most prominent article of furniture bears the
name of the Lafayette room, and is in every particular furnished
after the manner of a sleeping apartment of one hundred years
ago. The curtains of the high bedstead, the quaint toilet-table,
the bed-side table with its brass candlestick, and the pictures
and the ornaments are all in harmony. Nowhere has a discord-
ant modern note been struck. The same thing is" true of all the
other apartments in the house. The Starks have one and all
displayed great taste and decided skill in preserving the long-
ago tone that makes the place what it is. The second Caleb,
who inherited the estate in 1838, when his father, the brilliant
major, died, was a Harvard graduate, and writer of repute, being
the author of a valuable memoir of his father and grandfather.
He collected, even more than they had done, family relics of
interest. When he died in 1865, n ^ s two si sters > Harriett and
Charlotte, succeeded him in the possession of the estate.
Only comparatively recently has this latter sister died, and the
place came into the hands of its present owner Mr. Charles F.
Morris Stark, an heir who has the traditions of the Morris family
to add to those of the Starks, being on his mother's side a lineal
descendant of Robert Morris, the great financier of the Revolu'
tion. The present Mrs. Stark is the representative of still
another noted New Hampshire family, being the granddaughter
of General John McNeil, a famous soldier of the Granite State.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. XIX
Few, indeed, are the homes in America which contain so much
which, while of intimate interest to the family, is as well of wide
historical importance. Though a home, the house has the value
of a museum. The portrait of Major Stark, which hangs in the
parlour at the right of the square entrance-hall, was painted by
Professor Samuel Finley Breese Morse, the discoverer of the
electric telegraph, a man who wished to come down to posterity
as an artist., but is now remembered by us only as an inventor.
This picture is an admirable presentation of its original.
The gallant major looks down upon us with a person rather
above the medium in height, of slight but muscular frame, with
the short waistcoat, the high collar, and the close, narrow shoul-
ders of the gentleman's costume of 1830. The carriage of the
head is noble, and the strong features, the deep-set, keen, blue
eyes, and the prominent forehead, speak of courage, intelligence,
and cool self-possession.
Beside this noteworthy portrait hangs a beautiful picture of
the first mistress of this house, the Mrs. Stark who, as a girl,
was Miss Sarah McKinstrey. Her portrait shows her to have
been a fine example of the blonde type of beauty. The splendid
coils of her hair are very lustrous, and the dark, hazel eyes look
out from the frame with the charm and dignity of a St. Cecilia.
Her costume, too, is singularly appropriate and becoming, azure
silk with great puffs of lace around the white arms and queenly
throat. The waist, girdled under the armpits, and the long-
wristed mits stamp the date 1815-21.
The portrait of General Stark, which was painted by Miss
Hannah Crowninshield, is said not to look so much like the
doughty soldier as does the Morse picture of his son, but Gilbert
Stuart's Miss Charlotte Stark, recently deceased, shows the last
daughter of the family to have fairly sustained in her youth the
reputation for beauty which goes with the Stark women.
Beside the portraits, there are in the house, many other choice
and valuable antiques. Among these the woman visitor notices
with particular interest the fan that was once the property of
XX MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
Lady Pepperell, who was a daughter, it will be remembered, of
the Royall family, who were so kind to Major Cakb Stark in
his youth. And to the man who loves historical things, the cane
presented to General Stark when he was a major, for valiant
conduct in defence of Fort William Henry, will be of especial
interest. This cane is made from the bone of a whale and is
headed with ivory. On the mantelpiece stands another very in-
teresting souvenir, a bronze statuette of Napoleon I., which
Lafayette brought with him from France and presented to Major
Stark.
The house itself is a not unworthy imitation of an English
manor-house, with its aspect of old-time grandeur and pictur-
esque repose. It is of wood, two and a half stories high, with
twelve dormer windows, a gambrel roof, and a large two story
L. In front there are two rows of tall and stately elms, and
the trim little garden is enclosed by a painted iron fence. On
either side of the spacious hall, which extends through the mid-
dle of the house, are to be found handsome trophies of the chase,
collected by the present master of the place, who is a keen
sportsman.
A gorgeous carpet, which dates back fifty years, having been
laid in the days of the beautiful Sarah, supplies the one bit of
colour in the parlour, while in the dining room the rich silver
and handsome mahogany testify to the old time glories of the
place. Of manuscripts which are simply priceless, the house
contains not a few; one, over the quaint wine cooler in the
diningroom, acknowledging in George Washington's own hand,
courtesies extended to him and to his lady by a member of the
Morris family, being especially interesting. Upstairs, in the
sunlit hall, among other treasures, more elegant but not more
interesting hangs a sunbonnet once worn by Molly Stark herself.
Not far off down the country road is perhaps the most beauti-
ful and attractive spot in the whole town, the old family burying-
ground of the Starks, in which are interred all the deceased
members of this remarkable family, from the Revolutionary
Major Caleb and his wife down. Here, with grim, towering
Kearsarge standing ever like a sentinel, rests under the yew-
trees the dust of this great family's honored dead.
HISTORIC QUARTERLY
SUPPLEMENT.
Vol. III. October-December, 1902. No. 4
Terms, in advance, $1.00. Single copy, 25 cents,
Address HISTORIC QUARTERLY,
G. Waldo Browne, Editor,
Memoirs of the Manchester Historic Association
1902.
The obituary notices of a few members who have died prior
to the year just passed, which have not been given before, are
included in the following sketches, all of which are arranged in
their chronological order :
HONORARY MEMBER.
FRANCIS W. PARKER.
Colonel Francis Wayland Parker was born in Bedford,
October 9, 1837, being a lineal descendant of Colonel John
Goffe of pioneer days. His grandfather, William Parker, was
a soldier in the Revolution, having been a drummer under Gen-
eral John Stark at Bunker Hill, and he became the founder of
that suburb of Manchester known as 'Squog Francis began
his education in the village school of 'Squog, following this with
a course at Hopkinton Academy. In the midst of his school
life, when|he was only a little past 16, he began his long career
XX11 MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
of teaching, his first experience being at Corser Hill school,
Boscawen, in the winter of 1854 5. After teaching in various
places with success, a little over 21, he was callecUto the head
of the grammar school of his native village where he remained
until 1858, when he went to Carrollton, Greene County, Ills.
The Civil war breaking out while he was here, he resigned his
position, and enlisted as a private in the Fourth New Hamp-
shire regiment at Manchester. He saw some bitter fighting,
among other battles being those of Drury's Bluff and Deep
Bottom, receiving the commission of brevet-colonel for bravery
at the last named. Mustered out of the army in August, 1865,
ignoring all flattering offers of political and financial opportuni-
ties, he resumed his chosen calling by becoming principal of a
grammar school in Manchester.
From the beginning Colonel Parker's career was so fruitful of
good work that it is impossible in a brief sketch like this to
more than outline his successive changes. He went in 1868 to
Dayton, Ohio, v\here he soon became principal of the first normal
school, and here began those reforms in the methods of educa-
tion, which have so left their influence upon our common
schools as to place his name by the side of Horace Mann in
the educational temple of fame. He became Superintendent of
Schools in Quincy, Mass., April 20, 1875 ; in 1880, was made
one of the supervisors of schools in Boston ; and on January 1,
1883, entered upon his duties in the Cook County Normal
School of Chicago, where he remained until 1899, when he be-
came the head of the School of Education of that city. His
health failing him he went South to recupera e in the wjnter
of 1902. He died, while on this trip, at Pass Christian, Miss.,
March 2, 1902. (For an extended account of his life-work,
the reader is referred to a life sketch being prepared by a
competent person, and to be given during this volume.) His
body was brought to this city and now reposes in the Piscata-
quog cemetery, where it was placed May 13, 1902. His wife,
who had preceded him by a short time into that other life, was
buried beside him at the same time. V. S. C.
CHARLES H. BARTLETT.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. XXln
ACTIVE MEMBERS.
CHARLES H. BARTLETT.
Charles Henry Bartlett was born in Sunapee, October 15,
1833, the son of John and Sarah J. (Sanborn) Bartlett, and
a lineal descendant in the eighth generation of Richard Bartlett,
who came from England to Newbury, Mass., in 1634. Mr.
Bartlett's early life was mainly spent upon his father's farm,
laboring through the summer season and attending school dur-
ing the winter. He early developed a taste for literary pursuits,
and from childhood, devoted a liberal portion of his leisure
moments to the perusal of such books as were accessible to him.
He contributed to the current literature of the day, and showed
remarkable facility in both prose and poetic composition. He
received his education in the academies at Washington and
New London, after which he began the study of law in the
office of Metcalf & Barton at Newport. He studied subse-
quently with George & Foster of Concord, and with Morrison
& Stanley in this city, being admitted to the bar of Hillsbor-
ough County from the office of the latter in 1858. In that year
he began the practice of his profession at Wentworth, this state,
and in 1863 removed to this city, where he ever afterwards re-
sided. For two years he was law partner with the late Hon.
James U. Parker, the partnership terminating with the retire-
ment of the latter. In June, 1867, Mr. Bartlett was appointed
Clerk of the United States District Court for the New Hamp-
shire District, since which time he had not actively practiced his
profession, but had devoted himself to the duties of his office,
which became onerous and responsible upon the passage of the
bankrupt law, about the time of his appointment. He was
Clerk of the New Hampshire Senate from 1861 to 1865, Gov.
Smyth's private secretary in 1865 and 1866, Treasurer of the
State Industrial School in 1866 and 1867. In the same year
he was unanimously chosen City Solicitor, but declined a re-
election. In 1872 he was elected, as a nominee of the Repub-
lican party, Mayor of Manchester by an emphatic majority, and
XXIV MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
served till February 18, 1873, when he resigned in accordance
with the policy of the National Government, which forbade
United States officials to hold city or municipal offices. His
co-operation with the administration on this matter, though at
a sacrifice of a conspicuous public position, was recognized by
President Grant through Attorney General Williams. His last
official act as Mayor was to turn over the amount of salary which
would have been paid him as the city's chief executive, to the
Firemen's Relief Fund, and this act of generosity at that time
was illustrative of the interest which he ever felt in the Fire
Depa»tment of Manchester,
Mr. Bartlett had been Trustee of the Merrimack River Sav-
ings Bank from its organization in 1874, a Trustee of the Peo-
ples Savings Bank, and a director in the' Merchants National
Bank. He was Master of Washington Lodge of Masons from
April, 1872, to April, 1874, and held membership to Mt. Horeb
Royal Arch Chapter, Adoniram Council, and Trinity Com-
mandery, Knights of Templar. He was a member of the Con-
stitutional Convention and Chairman of the Commission ap-
pointed by the Governor and Council, to investigate the affairs
of the Asylum for the Insane. In 188 1 Dartmouth College con-
ferred upon him the honorary degree of Master of Arts. In
1882 he was elected to the State Senate, resigning his posi-
tion as Clerk of the United States District Court. At the
aasembling of the Legislature he was chosen President of the
Senate, an office second in rank to the Governor of the State.
He had served as Trustee of the State Industrial School, hav-
ing been appointed by Governor Goodell, to fill the vacancy
caused by the death of Judge Clark, whom he succeeded as
Clerk of the Board. He was Clerk of the Board of Cemetery
Trustees from its creation. He took a deep and active interest
in the work of this body. For two years he was commander
of the Amoskeag Veterans, and these years were made by him
two of the most prosperous and important years in the history
of this famous command. He was Judge Advocate on the
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. XXV
staff of Gov. Hiram Tuttle, with the rank of General, and was
President of the Manchester Board of Trade in 1896 and 1897,
and had earlier assisted in the formation of the Board. He was
an attendant at the Hanover Street Congregational Church and
had been president of the society. Socially he held member-
ship in both the Derryfield and Calumet Clubs. He beame an
active member of the Manchester Historic Association soon
after its incoiporation, and showed great interest in its success.
General Bartlett was a man of rare quality, a man who would
have achieved high success in almost any calling in life. He
came of a family in which many names are written in high places,
and his name deserves to be written among the highest on the
roll. He was born at a time when Mason, Webster and Pierce
were in the zenith of their fame. All through his school-boy
days Webster and Pierce in New Hampshire and Story and
Choate in Massachusetts were constantly pointed to as the
brightest examples of the most complete success ; and inter-
ested and attracted by the brilliant achievements of these great
leaders he naturally turned to the law and was admitted
to the Hillsborough Bar in 1858. Reared upon a farm he
passed through all of the struggles and privations that intervene
between the days of earnest toil for a living and the time, when
by hard, painstaking work, prudence and foresight in manage-
ment in his chosen profession he had acquired the independence
of a comfortable fortune.
A man of fine physique and possessed of an excellent voice
and gifts as an orator, he was in frequent demand as a public
speaker, responding on many and widely diverse occasions.
In recent years he delivered three notable orations. One at
the dedication of Stark Park on June 17, 1893, one at Amherst
at the unveiling of the Soldiers' Monument, and the third and
last at the Peterborough Celebration. An act illustrative of his
generosity occurred in 1893, when after the city had made ar-
rangements for the celebration of the 17th of June by the dedi-
cation of Stark Park, the question was raised by the late James
XXVI MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
B. Straw, then City Auditor, as to the right of the city to ex-
pend money for such a purpose. In order that there might be
no delay in the proceedings, and to remove all doubt as to the
celebration, General Bartlett came forward and generously of-
fered to bear the entire expense of the celebration. At the
commemoration of the city's semi-centennial, he was prominent
as President of the Day on Tuesday, September 8, and at that
time delivered an eloquent address.
Many citizens of Manchester recall General Bartlett's rare
affability, and his ready fund of anecdotes and illustration,
which never failed him, whether the occasion was in the com-
panionship of a few friends or at public gatherings. Had he
been more aggressive and self-assertive he might undoubtedly
have attained to high political position, but of a dignified tem-
perament, reserved in his manner, holding his own worth at a
true and just estimate, while expecting others to do the same,
he had no liking for the scramble that too often accompanies
him who seeks for political preferment.
He died on Jan. 25, 1900, in his 67th year, while seemingly
in the full possession of all his powers, active until within a few
days of his decease.
General Bartlett married, December, 1858, Miss Hannah M.
Eastman of Croydon, who died July 25, 1890. They had two
children, a son, Charles Leslie, who died at the age of four
years, and one daughter, Carrie Belle, who married Mr. Charles
H. Anderson, and survived her father. J. P. T.
NATHAN P. KIDDER.
Nathan Parker Kidder, the son of Samuel B. and Mary
A. Kidder, was born in Manchester, April 12, 1844, and was a
descendant of General John Stark. His father was superin-
tendent of the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company's locks and
canals, and the home, which is still standing, was near the gate
house between the railroad and the canal. As a boy he was
fond of outdoor sports and a great lover of horses. He enjoyed
NATHAN P. KIDDER.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. XXV11
boating and fishing. Like the other members of the family he
was always searching for Indian arrow heads and other relics,
and many specimens of the Kidder collection were found by him
and his younger brother, Selwyn, in their diligent search while
their mates were playing. He first attended school at the "Old
Falls schoolhouse," so called, which was burned in 1859.
From there he went to the North Grammar school and entered
the High school at the age of twelve. Illness caused him to
lose several terms, and he was still a member of the school in
1861 when the attack on Sumter was made. His young heart
beat with patriotic impulse and he left the student's desk to en-
list. He was refused by the mustering officer in Manchester,
upon giving his age as seventeen, but with his unwonted deter-
mination he made another effort and went to Concord, finding
the same officer mustering in the recruits. When asked his age
he replied, "eighteen," and was accepted. He was enrolled on
January 16, 1862, in Company M, First New Hampshire Cavalry,
his fondness for a horse causing him to choose cavalry service
rather than infantry. His brother, Charles S., enlisted at the
same time. As the state of New Hampshire raised only four
companies of cavalry, they formed a battalion of the First New
England Cavalry and were ordered to Pawtucket, R. I., Janu-
ary 22, where they went into camp, leaving there for Washing-
ton, March 17. While at Washington the name of the regiment
was changed from the First New England Cavalry to the First
Rhode Island Cavalry, which displeased the battalion so much
that some of the officers telegraphed to Governor Berry asking
him to come to Washington and see if he could not get the bat-
talion out of the regiment. In May the New Hampshire bat-
talion was ordered to Fredericksburg to report to General
Shields, which pleased the whole battalion, as it separated them
from the Rhode Island portion of the regiment. The "New
Hampshire Cavalry gained for itself a high reputation for dis-
cipline and efficiency and reflected honor upon the state/'
Mr. Kidder participated in twenty engagements, viz : Front
XXVU1 MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
Royal, Cedar Mountain, Groveton, Second Bull Run, Chantilly,
Aldee, Middleburg, Chancellorsville, BrandyjStation, Nottoway
Court House, Ream's Station, Stony Creek, Milford, Kearny-
ville, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Waynesboro, Cedar Creek,
Tower's Brook, and Newton. After the battle of Front Royal
his brother Charles wrote, ''Nate is here with me and I am very
glad he is. The officers call him one of the best men in the
company." On June, 18, 1863, he received a bullet wound in his
right thumb and was taken prisoner near Middleburg, Virginia.
After traveling one hundred and thirty miles on foot in six days
and riding all night in a freight car so crowded that the men
could not lie down, he passed one night in Libby prison, and
the next day went to Belle Isle, where he remained until July
22, when he was exchanged. From the letters and diaries
which Mr. Kidder wrote during the war much interesting mat-
ter might be given, were it not for making this sketch too
lengthy. I quote one incident. "Our Division went out on a
reconnoissance on the 17th on the Millwood and Winchester
Pike, the 1st N. H.- being in advance and Co.'s "K" and "M"
being thrown out as skirmishers. We encountered the enemy
and drove him back on his infantry supports when we halted
and a private and I volunteered to go forward and reconnoitre
some woods in our front. We dismounted and left our horses
and proceeded cautiously into the woods, but had not proceeded
far when we heard our names called and on going to the edge of
the wood discovered our skirmishers had fallen back and we im-
mediately started for them across a clearing destitute of brush
or tree. The boys supposed we were captured but we made our
way out through a shower of bullets that the Reb Infantry
poured into us and got back to our command. My comrade
was wounded in the shoulder and his carbine riddled with bul-
lets, but I am safe and sound and ready for anything."
During a retreat of our army across the Rappahannock on
October 12, 1863, Mr. Kidder lost his horse and after hiding in
the woods by day and marching by night, he was finally taken
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. XXIX
prisoner near Thoroughfare Gap on October 15, and again was
confined at Belle Isle, where he remained nearly six months.
Seldom could he be prevailed upon to tell of his sufferings and
privations in that wretched place, but his courage did not fail
him and that alone saved his life. Soon after his release he
obtained a furlough of thirty days and came home. His brother
Charles, who had been mustered in for a new term of service,
was also at home on furlough, and his younger brother, Selwyn,
enlisted in the same company, the loyal and patriotic mother
saying if she had a dozen boys she would send them all. Two
other sons were in government service but not on the field.
After Mr. Kidder's return to the front, his regiment was in con-
stant action. At Newton, Virginia, November 12, 1864, Mr.
Kidder was wounded in battle, his left ankle being shattered by
a minnie bullet. His foot was amputated at Winchester where he
remained for a month. His brother, Selwyn, was detailed by
the surgeon in charge to remain with him while there. Three
days after he was wounded he wrote, "Don't worry a bit about
me. I shall keep up good spirits, for I never was in a place yet
where I lost them. When I look around me and see other poor
fellows so much worse off, I think it is all for the best. It was
lost in a good cause but I have fought my last fight for the good,
old flag." He was transferred from Cavalry Corps Hospital,
Winchester, to Broad and Cherry Hospital, Philadelphia, then
to the South Street Hospital, Philadelphia, and in January,
1865, he was transferred to Webster, U. S. Gen. Hospital at
Manchester and discharged June 2, 1865, making nearly six
months of hospital life. He helped many a disheartened com-
rade by his cheerfulness. He was a brave soldier ; daring, de-
termined, courageous and utterly fearless.
For several years after the war he was employed by the
Amoskeag Company at the gate house. In 1869, at the age of
twenty -five, he served one term in the Legislature. He was a
charter member of Louis Bell Post, No. 3, G. A. R., and of the
Union Veterans' Union. He was Quartermaster General of the
XXX MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
N. H. Volunteer Militia in 1868 and was Assistant Quarter-
master General of the G. A. R. Dept. of N. H., in 187 1. He
was a member of Passaconnaway Tribe of Red Men and a
member of the Derrytield Club, at one time serving as its
President.
Mr. Kidder married Laura A. Montgomery, a former teacher
of this city. Two daughters blessed their home, Eunice, who
married Mr. Joseph H. Brown, now residing in Detroit, Michi-
gan, and Florence, the wife of Mr. Austin M. Everett of Chel-
sea, Mass.
In politics he was a staunch Republican. He was elected
city clerk in the year 1877 and held the office for twenty con
secutive years. He was a "capable, efficient and faithful offi-
cial, thoroughly familiar with every detail of the office, ever
obliging and the soul of courtesy."
In 1900 he was appointed Assistant Postmaster. While at-
tending his duties at the postoffice he was stricken with the brain
trouble from which he never recovered. His immediate family had
been conscious that his mind was weakening for some time, but
had not anticipated the result. He was taken to the State
Hospital at Concord, N. H., for treatment, remaining there until
released through death, May 17, 1901. Mr. Kidder was genial
and affable ; was generous to a fault; a true friend, and he
never spoke ill of another. L. A. K.
JOHN M. CHANDLER.
It often happens that the biographer, in seeking antecedents
for the great or good qualities of his subject, is obliged to
search far back into the family annals, even to seek collateral
branches of one or the other parent. The case before us is of
an entirely different character. The immediate and the remote
ancestors of John M. Chandler were of a type that was con-
spicuous for its integrity and ability. They belonged to that
class of yeomanry who conquered the wilderness, made the
laws, and defended the early settlement from the prowling wolf
John M. Chandler.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. XXXI
and the marauding savage. Emerson has immortalized these
men in his poem on Concord fight as "the embattled farmers."
Born on a farm bordering on the lovely Merrimack river, at a
time when the great founders of the Union were still living or
only recently dead, he grew up in an atmosphere of love of
country and respect for the integrity of political office, where
plain ability was more esteemed than superficial brilliancy. He
passed the period of his boyhood in storing the mind with that
which was more likely to develop the intellect and the heart
than to foster commercial or conventional ambitions. In one
respect only was his nurture at all different from that which was
usual in our best old families at this period. There was in all
the members of his household deep love for, and ability to
create music. In fact, in that quiet country home was to be
heard music of a high order, produced by its own members, all
entering joyously into the creation of musical entertainment. I
mention this fact in particular as it had a bearing upon his sub-
sequent career and has shown its influence upon other mem-
bers of his family in other ways.
At an early age it seemed to be determined that John was to
select a professional career and his early training and teaching
was made to enable him to take a college course. At the age
of seventeen he entered Dartmouth College with all the en-
thusiasm of youth and doubtless with that same capacity
for excellence and mastery for which he was conspicuous
in after years. The first year was successfully passed, but
at the beginning of the second there developed in his system
alarming symptoms of a pulmonary disorder which proved
so grave that he was obliged to suspend his course and
devote his energies to arrest the disease. It would be difficult
to imagine the grief and disappointment caused by this great
misfortune. For several years he devoted himself to the restor-
ation of his endangered health. Yet this was not an unmitigated
calamity, for during this period when prolonged labor and ef-
fort was impossible, he was enabled to undertake an extensive
XXX11 MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
course of reading in all departments of learning, permitting him
to store his mind with that marvelous amount of knowledge
which was apparent to those who knew him intimately. One
or two things he possessed to a remarkable degree : A love of
exact and critical knowledge; a memory that never misled or
deceived ; an infinite capacity for accurate observation, and a
temperament singularly sympathetic and easily aroused, yet he
was able to look critically at a subject without bias or personal
feeling.
Those who knew Mr. Chandler in his later years and saw him
in his remarkable physical perfection can with difficulty realize
that in his youth grave fears were entertained of his ability
to recover from what seemed a fatal disease. Mr. Chandler
was for twenty years engaged in mercantile affairs, first serving
a short clerkship at Nashua, afterwards as a partner in the busi-
ness firm of Kidder & Chandler. After a successful period in
that line he became successively assistant cashier and cashier,
following his brother, the Hon. George B. Chandler, who suc-
ceeded to the office of president of the well known Amoskeag
National Bank.
It would be almost impossible to write a sketch of John
M. Chandler without some allusion to his two elder brothers,
Henry and George Byron Chandler. Intimately associated
in business, with a harmony as delightful as it was rare, there
could scarcely be found three men of more distinctly different
qualities working together in such absolute union. Mr. Chand-
ler's ambitions were not to be rich merely, not to be famous or
to seek preferment, but to do faithfully and intelligently what
was set before him j to treat others justly and kindly, to improve
and progress ; to live well and to have the best for use and not
for ornament ; he was in every way a model citizen, a loyal
friend, and a buttress of the city's integrity and honor.
Without being at all partisan in politics Mr. Chandler was a
staunch Democrat of the conservative type ; by religious prefer-
ence a Unitarian, but his theology was of the kind most re-
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. XXX1U
sembling that of his mother, Sally McAllaster, who was a Uni-
versalist of an austerity and dignity of almost Puritan intensity,
although consisting more in a faith and good works and a
wholesome self-respect than in theological formulas or in def-
inite beliefs in this or that doctrine.
It was my good fortune to become intimately acquainted with
Mr. Chandler in the year 1890 and to have peculiar and unusual
opportunities of knowing him in a free and unrestrained man-
ner ; to know that the apparent reserve was to be melted into a
friendliness and rare good humor ; to see his quick response to
those in misfortune; and to see his apathy and aversion towards
crediting any evil report was to have enjoyed one of those rare
friendships too seldom falling to the lot of man.
John McAllaster Chandler was descended from William
Chandler, who came to America in 1637 and settled in Rox-
bury, Mass. All the Chandlers in New England seem to have
sprung from this stock, his children and grandchildren spread-
ing slowly out into the adjoining territory, occupying many
positions of trust and serving in every capacity in early colonial
times. Zachariah, great-grandson of William, married Margaret
Bishop, daughter of Thomas Bishop, one of the Narragansett
soldiers. Through grants made to those who served in King
Philips's war, he became possessor of lands on the Merrimack
river and his son, Thomas, moved to Bedford, New Hampshire,
then known as Narragansett No. 5, about 1750, and was married
to Hannah Goffe, this being the first couple married in that
township and their house was the first frame dwelling built
there. Zachariah, his son, born in 1751, was one of the Revolu-
tionary patriots and selectman in 1784. He bought the Old
Billings collection of sacred music for his sons, Thomas and
Samuel, which was supposed to be the first singing book in
Bedford. This seems to have been the origin of the musical
taste alluded to in this sketch.
Thomas Chandler was much interested in music and seems
to have been a many-sided man, for he was Justice of the
XXxiv MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
Quorum in 1808, captain of the militia in 1815, representative
and senator in the State Legislature and member of Congress
from 1829 to 1833. He was a very tall man, vigorous phys-
ically, and worked in the fields in his 88th year, dying at the
age of 93. His brother Samuel was the father of Zachariah
Chandler, so widely known afterwards during the times of the
Civil War, being United States Senator and serving in that
capacity, representing Michigan in the Senate for eighteen
years, later becoming secretary of the interior under Grant.
Thus Zachariah Chandler had a son and a grandson who bore
high nationl honors, both born in the same town and raised on
adjoining farms, the son a Jeffersonian Democrat and the grand-
son an ardent Republican.
John M. Chandler was born November 3, 1834 ; married
Lavinia Pease Foss in i860, by whom he had one daughter,
Mary Chandler (Burpee), who has a son, Chandler Burpee.
Mr. Chandler married a second time, Lucy Ruggles of New Bed-
ford, by whom he had a daughter, Eloise, both surviving him.
On the 5th of December, 1901, after an unusually busy and
pleasant day, Mr. Chandler left the Amoskeag National Bank
with a cheery "good night" and was suddenly stricken, expir-
ing instantly, in the very manner he had always expressed
as being the ideal way of passing out of this life, leaving Man-
chester the poorer by the loss of so much that was noble and
endearing, but richer in the remembrance of an ideal citizen.
T. P. W. R.
WILLIAM A. TRUESDALE.
William A. Truesdale was the son of John and Harriet
Truesdale, who came to Manchester in its early days from
Cambridge, Mass. The Truesdales belonged to Revolutionary
stock, having come to this country from England several genera-
tions before the uprising of the colonies. William was born in
Manchester July, 9, 185 1, and was educated in the local schools.
His father had been for some years a manufacturer of trunks,
LrriiKK S. Proctor
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. XXXV
and upon finishing his education he entered his employ. But
at the end of two years he left to learn the trade of machinist at
the Amoskeag machine shop. Later he went to work at the
Manchester Locomotive works, where he remained until 1872.
The increasing business of his father now attracted him hither,
and a partnership was formed under the name of J. Truesdale
& Son, which continued until the death of the parent, October
18, 1891 The firm did a large business in trunks and bags,
both retail and wholesale, but upon the decease of his father
William limited his business to the wholesale trade. The dis-
astrous fire of February 7, 189 2 ; which destroyed the Varick
block, ruined his stock. Obliged to seek new headquarters he
moved to commodious rooms in the building near the passenger
station, of the Everett Knitting works. About this time he in-
vented a wall trunk that was received with great favor.
In politics Mr. Truesdale was a Republican, being an active
worker in his party. He was honored with two elections to the
State Legislature from Ward 4, 1890-2 and 1892-4, his popu-
larity was shown by the large vote accorded him at both elec-
tions. He was an honorary member of the Captain Joseph
Freschl post, G. A. R. He became a member of the Manches-
ter Historic Association on September 18, 1901, and had he
lived would doubtless have been a valuable member, as he was
greatly interested in historical matters. He died after a short
illness of heart difficulty, January 8, 1902, is survived by a
wife and two sons, Albert C. and Edward, and a daughter,
Genevieve R. One sister also outlives him, Mrs. James S.
Wilde, of Kobe, Japan. In personal appearance he was a man
of medium height, slender build, active in his movements, hav-
ing a genial nature and the many good qualities which help
form an upright character. V. S. C.
LUTHER S. PROCTOR.
Luther Stowell Proctor was born January 2, 1835, an d
died March 1, 1902. His paternal ancestors were English,
XXXVI MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
coming to America from England in 1635 an< ^ settling in
Ipswich, Mass. His grandfather came to Londonderry, now
Derry, and in 1806 his father, John Proctor, bought the land
bordering on the shores of Lake Massabesic and built the
house, which is now the Proctor homestead and where he was
born and always lived. Like most boys of those days his early
education was acquired principally during the winter months
and a part of the time his teacher was the late William E.
Moore, who was about the same age as many of his pupils.
Mr. Proctor was most thoroughly a home man and did not
care for public or political life to any extent, though he served
as Representative to the State Legislature for two years, 1896-
97. In his early days, and later on in middle life, he was en-
gaged quite extensively in the wood and lumber business, but
during the last few years of his life ill health prevented him
from getting out of doors very much during the winters. His
father's farm comprised nearly all of what is now Youngsville,
and he was known as the largest land owner in that vicinity.
Several acres of this patrimony bordering on the shores of Lake
Massabesic were purchased of Luther by the city of Manchester
in 1896, when the latter obtained possession of the land as far
as possible along the lake in order to protect the water supply.
Mr. Proctor always attended the First M. E. church and
often told how he together with other boys and girls took a
short cut through the woods back of the Huse homestead, al-
ways with their shoes hung over their shoulders till in sight of
the church, when they would put them on and attend church in
proper attire. When the old house was moved and remodelled,
he still retained his pew which was the property of his father
before him, as it was then the custom to own and not hire
church pews. He was one of the earliest members of Amos-
keag Grange and a constant attendant at the meetings until
within a few years, and was treasurer for several years.
He also belonged to the Old Resident's Association and was
one of the most interested and active members at the Semi-
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. XXXV11
Centennial celebration in 1896. His excellent memory en-
abled him to recall the old residents, nearly all of whom he
knew, although many were years older than himself.
In stature he was a large man, tall and well proportioned,
and weighed about 225 pounds. These proportions he inherited
from his maternal ancestors. He possessed a remarkable
memory, and many an amusing anecdote would be related by
him concerning some of the early settlers around Lake Massa-
besic and Webster's mills. He became a member of the Man-
chester Historic Association September 18, 1901. In his de-
cease the society lost one who was ever interested in historical
matters and the community a citizen of sterling worth.
G. W. B.
JOSEPH R. WESTON.
Joseph R. Weston was born in Goffstown February 27,
1842, and was the son of Samuel S. and Roxanna Weston.
His father and his grandfather were village blacksmiths, but the
subject of our sketch looked to another trade for his calling.
Upon finishing a course in the school of his native town Joseph
attended the Spring Street school in this city. Upon leaving
school, after working for a time in the sash and blind shop of
Jeremiah Austin at Goffstown, he entered the employment of
his brother Alonzo as clerk in the latter's clothing store in this
city. Later on he worked for the dry goods merchant, William
Putney, and then for Mr. Otis Barton. He next launched into
business for himself in partnership with his brother Samuel in
Mercantile block. His brother soon after dying, he conducted
his store alone for a time, when he admitted Mr Charles Sen-
ter as a partner. On August 28, 1875, he opened a store on
the site now occupied by the Pickering building, and advertised
it as "J oe Weston's New Dry Goods Store." This became a
decided success, and in February, 1880, he admitted to partner-
ship in his flourishing business Mr. James W. Hill, one of his
clerks. Upon the completion of the Pembroke block this firm
removed there in April, 1891, where they conducted a success-
ful business. In 1897 he sold out his interest to his partner
XXXV111 MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
and retired to devote his time to looking after his investments
in real estate. Quoting from the source from which we draw
most of our information : "Mr. Weston's sagacity and ability as
a business man were clearly demonstrated by his careful atten-
tion to details and the systematic manner in which all of his
business transactions were entered upon. He is said to have
been able to tell at a moment's notice just how his affairs stood.
He was a man of energy and perseverance, characteristics which
were displayed in all of his undertakings. He was very fond of
outdoor sports."
Mr. Weston was an attendant upon the Universalist church.
He belonged to the Masonic fraterntty. being a member of the
Washington lodge, October 3, 187 1, Mt. Horeb Royal Arch
chapter November 13, 1872, Adoniram council February 3,
1873, a °d Trinity Commandery March 21, 1873. He became a
member of the Manchester Historic Association in September,
1901.
His decline in health began with injuries received by being
struck by an electric car near the corner of Elm and Bridge
streets a little over a year before his death on March 28. He
is survived by a wife, Mrs. Helen (Fitts) Weston, and a daugh-
ter, Mrs. Grace Johnson of Nashua, and a son, Fred M. Weston
of New York city. One brother, Alonzo H., of this city, and
one sister, Mrs. Anna Kimball of Bradford, Mass., also out-
live him. The funeral was conducted at his late home on
Salmon street under the auspices of the Knights Templar,
and the body borne to rest in Pine Grove cemetery. C.
MRS. CLARISA P. HERRICK.
The subject of this memoir was one of the early members of
the Historic Association, and continued to manifest an interest
in its work as years passed.
Mrs. Herrick's ancestry was of the old colonial stock, and all
its family traditions and associations centered around the events
of the Revolution.
The birth date of our subject was September 8, 1824, when
her father's family resided in New Boston on a farm received
Mrs. Clarisa P. Herrick.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. XXXIX
by inheritance from her maternal grandfather's estate. Her
parents were Robert and Elizabeth (Kelso) Parkinson, and she
was the youngest of eight children, three boys and five girls, all
of whom lived to mature life. By profession her father was a
civil engineer, and served several years on a survey of the
northern part of New Hampshire in the vicinity of Dixville
Notch, where he ultimately cleared a farm in the township of
Columbia, but becoming embarrassed by losses in marine lum-
ber at Portland, Maine, from the embargo of the war of 1812,
removed to New Boston, the old family home of the mother.
At this fine old typical New England town the family were edu-
cated and trained in all the moral and intellectual lines com-
mon to the best class of our rural population. The trend to a
good education in the family was perhaps stimulated by an an-
cestral bias, the paternal grandfather, Henry Parkinson, being
a graduate of Princeton, and a noted teacher at Concord and
Canterbury in the first quarter of the last century. He had
also been a good patriot and soldier in the early days of our
Revolution, having served as commissary to General Stark at
the battle of Bunker Hill and later holding the same position
at Ticonderoga.
The family removed from New Boston to Nashua about 1837,
and in the ten years following, the members completed their
education in the schools and academies of that day.
As a teacher, Mrs. Herrick's early womanhood was spent in
Milford, Hudson and Nashua. Her marriage occurred in 1849,
and the subsequent sixteen years were spent in New York city
and Brooklyn, where her husband was employed as an illus-
trator of books by city publishers and also as teacher and prin-
cipal manager in the "New York School of Design for Women,"
Cooper Institute.
The family removed to Manchester, N. H., in 1865 where it
has since been located, and where she died August 16, 1902, of
heart difficulty.
Mrs. Herrick has left an honorable name and precious mem-
ory to society. Her sons, Allan E., Robert P. and Henry A.,
are well settled in life with honorable records, and a promising
xl MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
future. One sister, Mrs. Frances C. P. Wheeler now lives at
North Woburn, Mass., being the only living representative of
the large and honorable family. H.
HORACE PETTEE.
Horace Pettee was the son of Ebenezer and Lydia (Hall)
Pettee and a lineal descendant of William Petty who came from
England and settled in Weymouth, Mass., about 1638. He was
born in Francestown, N. H., December 1, 1817, and died in
Manchester October 7, 1902. He was educated in the common
schools and academy of his native town, remained in business
with his father until 1843, when he came to Manchester and began
a long and honorable business career. He became bookkeeper
and confidential clerk for Mr. David Hamblett ; who was then
carrying on an extensive business in lumber and grain in Piscat-
aquog, now West Manchester. After the death of Mr. Hamb-
lett Mr. Pettee administered the estate and closed out the large
and varied interests involved with marked success. In 1849 he
engaged in the wholesale and retail grain business with Jere-
miah Abbott, locating in the Museum building, of which he was
part owner for many years, on Elm street. In 1864 Mr. Abbott
retired and Mr. Pettee's brother, the late Holmes R. Pettee, be-
came associated with him, the firm being known as H. & H. R.
Pettee. In 1876 he retired from active trade.
Coming to Manchester only three years after Rev. Dr. Wal-
lace began his long pastorate over the First Congregational
Church, he immediately identified himself with it. He held the
office of deacon most worthily for twenty-nine years, and at the
time of his death was deacon emeritus. He was a director of
the First Congregational Society several years, and afterwards
its president, continuing in this office through the time when the
new church was being built. He was also chairman of the
building committee and financial agent, giving his time and
business ability, about two years to the work, thereby contribut-
ing greatly to the successful completion of the enterprise. He
was a constant attendant on all religious services, long a teacher
in the Sunday school and constantly engaged in every Christian
ill #^
Horace Pettee.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. xli
activity. He was also interested in various benevolent organ-
izations. For fifty years he was connected with the City Mis-
sionary Society, serving successively as member of the Board of
Control, as treasurer of the society, and as its president. He
was treasurer of the New Hampshire Central Congregational
Club from its organization till 1901, when he declined re-elec-
tion. He was an active member of the Old Residents' A-soci-
tion and held offices in it, and became a member of the Man-
chester Historic Association in September, 1901.
In politics he was a Republican and was honored with many
offices by his party. He was a member of the city council three
years, during two of which he was its president ; served as al-
derman two years and represented his ward in the State Legis-
lature during the stirring days of Ihe Civil War. He was active
during this period in promoting the Union cause. Prevented
from enlisting, he sent a substitute at his own expense that he
might be personally represented on the battlefield.
Deacon Pettee was married in 1843 t0 Elizabeth F. Wilson
of Francestown, who died in '1855. Later he married Sarah E.
Adams of New Boston, who survives him, besides two sons,
Rev. James H. Pettee, Missionary of the American Board in
Japan, and Prof. Charles H. Pettee, Dean of the New Hamp-
shire College at Durham.
If "fidelity is success," then the life of this strong, earnest
man of affairs, who was faithful to the end in every relation of
life, must be considered a grandly successful one. S. E. P.
ANDREW MUNGALL.
Andrew Mungall was born in Glasgow, Scotland, Decem-
ber 31, 1828, and died in Manchester October 8. 1902.
His parents were Robert and Margaret (Rankin) Mungall.
The family belonged to Clackmannanshire, in the east of
Scotland, having originally come from France during the
persecution of the Huguenots. The name was then spelled
Mongault. The subject of our memoir, one of a large family
with moderate means, he went to work at the age of ten years in
a calico print works. Leaving this place a few years later he
xlii MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
went to learn the cotton dyeing trade, which occupation he fol-
lowed until three years before his death. He studied chemis-
try under Professor Penny at the Andersonian University,
Glasgow, and later became assistant to his former instructor in
his evening classes. He was in the employ of the John Bar-
tholomew & Co., dyers, in Glasgow, for nearly thirty years. Be-
ginning in a minor position he rose step by step, until he be-
came manager of the entire works, holding this position until
the firm went out of business. In 1881 he came to Manchester
and was engaged by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company,
when he introduced into their mills what is called the "long
chain system" of dyeing, and which had never until then been
put into operation in the United States. He was superintend-
ent of dyeing with this company for nearly twenty years, retir-
ing in 1899.
Mr. Mungall was active in Church and Sunday school work,
and was for many years an elder in Bridgeton Parish Church,
Glasgow, and he was superintendent of the Sunday school in
connection with this church. Upon coming to Manchester he
became a member of the Franklin Street Congregational Church,
which he retained until his death. He took his Masonic de-
grees in Scotland, and affiliated with Lafayette Lodge in Man-
chester. He was also a member of Trinity Commandery here \
was a life member of Clan McKenzie, and was a member of the
Scots Charitable Society of Boston, Mass. Possessing a deep
interest in historical matters he became a member of the Man-
chester Historic Association in September, 190 1.
Mr. Mungall married in July, 185 1, Miss Isabella Kirkwood
Kelly of Glasgow. Eight children were born to them. They
celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in July, J9oi,upon
which happy occasion seventeen grandchildren were present
with their parents and others. He is survived by his widow
and six children, four sons and two daughters, as follows :
Robert, overseer of the Norwich Dye works, Norwich, Conn. ;
Samuel, assistant superintendent of the Amoskeag Dye house j
Andrew, superintendent of the Canadian Cotton corporation,
Milltown, N. B. ; Thomas, who succeeded his father as superin
Andrew Mungall.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. xliil
tendent of the Amoskeag Bye house ; Mrs. Isabella Menzies of
this city, and Mrs. Janet Nicoll of Dundee, Scotland. Two
brothers, residing in Scotland, George and James, also survive
him. He was buried in Pine Grove cemetery. His funeral,
which took place from his late home, 506 Belmont street, was
conducted by Rev. B. W. Lockhart of the Franklin Street
Church, and Rev. D. J. Many of the Westminster Presbyterian
Church, and was largely attended by sorrowing friends and
relatives.
The local press in speaking of Mr. Mungall, said fittingly :
"He was the perfect type of the sturdy, honest, large-hearted
man, possessing an irreproachable character, a genial tempera-
ment and a good judgment. All who knew him respected him,
and those who knew him intimately, loved him. In every circle
in which he moved his presence was distinctly felt, and his
weighty influence was ever on the side of right and truth."
G. W. B.
JOSEPH KIDDER.
Joseph Kidder, M. A., son of Samuel Phillips and Betsey
(Stark) Kidder, was born in Manchester, March 13, 1819. His
father was a descendant of James Kidder of East Grinstead,
Sussex, England, who came to Cambridge, Mass., as early as
1650. His mother was a granddaughter of General Stark of
Revolutionary fame.
The subject of this memoir was the fourth of a family of five
children. His father died when he was four years old, leaving
this large family to the care of the mother. Mrs. Kidder was a
woman of energy and courage, and managed to keep the flock
together for a time and provide for their support. Joseph's
early life was spent upon a farm of about one hundred acres,
extending from the river back to Oak Hill. The house which
was situated near the water on what would be the edge of the
upper Amoskeag canal, has been moved from its location and
is known as the Campbell house, said to be still standing south
of the gate house at the Falls At ten years of age Joseph was
able among the hardy working population of the time and place
Xliv MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
to pay his own way. He was a willing and studious attendant
at the district school and eagerly read such books as he could
obtain, a larger number than might be supposed, for the father,
Samuel Phillips Kidder, was a director in the Derryfield Social
Library and we may be sure that the son had the perusal of
some of those classics which were the foundation of many a
school boy's knowledge in that time, Pilgrim's Progress, The
Spectator, The Arabian Nights, Don Quixote, Rollin's Ancient
History, Rasselas, the Scottish Chiefs, beside many books on
theological and ethical subjects such as our fathers used to
read. At the age of fifteen, when the sandy banks of the Mer-
rimack were beginning to feel the birth throes of a manufactur-
ing city, Joseph obtained employment as clerk in a store, where
he continued three years, after which he entered Pembroke
Academy, then at the height of its prosperity, under the charge
of Col. Isaac Kinsman. At this school he spent several terms
as student, assistant teacher and editor of a semi-monthly paper
called the "People's Herald." His academic education was
completed at Lebanon and at Dummer Academy, West New.
bury, Mass. At this latter school, in 1900, Mr. Kidder attended
the unveiling of a memorial tablet to the memory of the founder,
Ex-Governor Dummer.
In 181 2, having retired from the publication of the People's
Herald, Mr. Kidder, associated with W. H. Kimball, established
the Manchester Democrat which afterwards became the Demo-
crat and American. The next year, in company with Mr. John
M. Hill of Concord, he started a campaign paper called the Ad
vocate of Democracy, which ceased publication with the close
of the election which called it forth.
From 1845 t0 ^47 he was editor of the Manchester Saturday
Messenger and was a writer for several other papers. From
1881 to 1884 he was editor of the Odd Fellows' department of
the New Hampshire Statesman, and later, up to his death, con-
ducted a similar department for the Manchester Union. In
1845, m company with his older brother, Col. John S. Kidder,
and John M. Chandler, late cashier of the Amoskeag National
Bank, with whom at various times and for longer or shorter
y^HU^I^^/j^oLcOA^
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. xlv
periods was associated John F. Duncklee, he opened a store for
the sale of general merchandise at No. 36 Elm street, on the
site now occupied by the Weston block. Growing with the
growth of the town this came to be known as the "family store,''
and did a large and increasing business for barter, for cash, or
for credit. The farmers brought their produce and a large
territory had its wants supplied in a satisfactory manner. For
twenty eight years this was a center of trade until the firm was
dissolved by mutual consent.
During the time spent in mercantile pursuits Mr. Kidder gave
much attention to local public affairs ; took a deep interest in
education, was for some years a member of the school board
and superintendent of schools. Later he was president of the
Board of Trade, vice president of the Old Folks' and of the
Historic Associations. He was a trustee of the State Industrial
School, to which institution he devoted much time and where
he delivered many addresses, a trustee also of the Agricultural
College at Durham, where he received the degree of Doctor of
Science, and while not an Alumnus of Dartmouth, that institu-
tion, in recognition of his public usefulness in many directions,
made him Master of Arts. Interested in all that pertains to
agriculture he became a member of the Grange and was chap-
lain of Amoskeag Grange, P. of H., from 1896 to his decease.
He became widely known throughout the state as a lecturer, one
lecture in particular on the cave in Kentucky, having been many
times repeated. In addition to these things Mr. Kidder was an
active and earnest worker in the Universalist denomination to
which he belonged and in the church of which he was a Sunday
school teacher. As a lay preacher he conducted services at
many funerals and not infrequently occupied the pulpit in his
pastor's absence.
At the close of his mercantile career Mr. Kidder felt free to
devote himself to what must be considered the great purpose of
his life. He has told us how at four years of age he was im-
pressed at the sight of the Masonic emblems at his father's
funeral. In 1845 ne joined the Hillsboro Lodge, No. 2, Order
of Odd Fellows. On his seventy-fifth birthday he had taken
Xlvi MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
every degree that is conferred by the Order, was Grand Master
in 1856, a member of the Sovereign Grand Lodge ten years,
two years Grand Marshal, and since 1878 was Secretary of the
Grand Lodge, and of the Grand Encampment. He was made
a Mason in Washington Lodge of Manchester, May 4, 1864
became a member of Mount Horeb Arch Chapter January 4,
1865, of Adoniram Council Royal and Select Masters, Septem-
ber 7, 1865, Trinity Commandery Knights Templar, April 26.
He had received the rites of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish
Rite to and including the 326. degree. He was Chaplain of
Washington Lodge for over twenty years and of Mount Horeb
Chapter for twenty-two years, of Trinity Commandery for
twenty four years. He was Master of Washington Lodge in
1869, High Priest of Mount Horeb Chapter in 1873-74 and
1889, Treasurer of the Grand Lodge of Masons from 1874 to
the time of his death, had been Prelate of the Grand Command-
ery since September, 1900, and Chaplain of the Grand Chapter
since May, 1882.
Mr. Kidder was quiet and unassuming in dress and deport-
ment, walking with alert step and usually with eyes fixed on the
ground, as if in thought. He was of medium height, well pro-
portioned and as he passed the eighth decade the casual ob-
server saw few tokens of advancing age in mind'or body. What
his loss means to the two great associations in which he was so
prominent an actor, to society in genera] and to the church of
which he was a life-long member may well be left to others to
tell. There was no member of the Manchester Historic Associ-
ation, of which he was a charter member, probably better fitted
than he to aid the accomplishment of its objects. Born on his-
toric ground in old Derryfield, in that section of the region
around which centered its legendary stories of fisher and boat-
man, with all its large and its small happenings coming within
the scope of his memory, he of all others was fitted to reproduce
the scenes of other days. But his time was too fully occupied
and in the few years numbered by the existence of this associa-
tion he had found time for only one reminiscent address.
(Given on pages 65-78 of this volume.)
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. xlvii
Mr. Kidder married Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Sarah and
Joseph Smith of Concord, Mass., and if the blood of Revolu-
tionary heroes coursed in the veins of the husband, both grand-
fathers of the bride were among the minute men who "Fired the
shot heard around the world." It was a happy and congenial
union, and its golden anniversary was observed at the home on
Myrtle street, in 1900, We are told that Mr. Kidder was much
attached to his home. Judging from the part taken in the liter-
ary and artistic entertainments of the city it is known to have
been a home of culture and refinement. About the middle of
July of the present year Mr. Kidder was attacked with serious
disorder of the liver from which he passed away October 29,
1902. A great concourse of citizens attended his funeral at the
church on Lowell street. He is survived by the widow, Sarah
Elizabeth Kidder, and by three daughters, Maria F., Annie E.
and Mary M. ; another daughter, Sarah Josepha Kidder, died
May 3, 1901.
Children of Samuel Phillips Kidder and Betsy Stark Kidder, granddaughter of
Maj. Gen. John Stark :
Samuel Blodget Kidder, born December 26, 1806.
Elizabeth Kidder, born March 27, 1809. Married Nathaniel Emmons Morrill.
John Sullivan Kidder, born May 31, 1811.
Mary White Kidder, born August 31, 1813. Married Moody Currier.
Joseph Kidder, born March 13, 1819.
Susan Stark Kidder, born June 1, 1821. Married Dr. David Palmer, and is the
only survivor.
F. B. E.
CHARLES W. TEMPLE.
Charles William Temple was born at Hyde Park, Ver-
mont, July ii, 1846, and died of heart failure in Manchester,
N. H., November 7, 1902. He was the only son of Charles and
Eleanor (Flanders) Temple, but he had two sisters and three
half sisters, his mother having been previously married. His
father died when he was three years old, and one of his young
sisters soon after. Hoping to find better employment through
which to support her family, his mother came to Manchester,
with her older daughters, leaving Charles and his sister with
relatives until she could succeed in establishing a home which
would warrant her in sending for them. This she did when he
was about ten years old. Obliged to do what he could toward
supporting the family, Charles had only the most meagre oppor-
xlviii MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
tunities to obtain a schooling, and he was not able to attend the
grammar school. During such scanty time as he did attend
school he worked through vacations doing errands and in a
grocery store.
When he was scarcely twelve years old he entered the em-
ployment of the old, noted Fisk Bookstore, beginning as chore
boy and then as clerk. He remained steadily with Mr. Fisk
for a number of years, winning the confidence of his employer
by his faithfulness and honesty, and through his frugality and
perseverance he was able to buy out his employer when he re-
tired from business in July, 1875. At this time Mr. Henry A.
Farrington became associated with him in the business, though
not as an active partner, and their pleasant relationship was not
severed until about seven years since. In the interval the busi-
ness of Temple & Farrington had so increased that new and
more commodious quarters were necessary Thus upon the
completion of the Pickering building in 1892 they moved in to
occupy the entire ground floor, as well as other rooms in the
building. Upon the retirement of Mr. Farrington, in 1896, Mr.
Temple continued his large business alone.
In August, 1867, he was married to Miss Lucinda L. Chase,
by whom he had two sons, Harry Chase, who died when he
was thirteen years of age, and Charles Arthur, who was asso-
ciated with him in business and who succeeds in its manage
ment. Besides this son he is survived by his wife. Possessing
a genial and courteous nature he was a prominent member of
both the Calumet and Derryfield clubs, a member of Washing-
ton Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of Mount Horeb Chapter, R. A.,
Adoniram Council, R. and S. M., and of Trinity Commandery,
Knights of Templar. He was also a 3 2d degree Mason in the
Scottish rite, belonging to the Nashua membership, and Mystic
Shrine, the Washington Encampment and Wildey Lodge, I. O.
O. F. He was a member and regular attendant at the Franklin
Street church. He became a member of the Manchester His-
toric Association in September, 1901. Strictly honest and up-
right in his dealings, prompt and courteous in his business asso-
ciations, through his persevering industry building up a large
9 &
Joseph H. Wiggin.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. xlix
business, Mr. Temple was in the fullest sense of the word a
self-made man, and his sudden death cameras a great shock to
the community in which he had so long been a prominent
factor. G. W. B.
JOSEPH H. WIGGIN.
At his home on Union street, near Tremont common, early
Wednesday afternoon, November 12, Mr. Joseph H. Wiggin, one
of Manchester's best known and most respected business men,
died of Bright's disease after a long illness. His failing health
had not permitted him to be at his place of business for several
months, but it was not generally understood that he was n puch
a serious condition. He had passed the summer at his old
home in Massachusetts, and had returned to this city only
about two weeks before his death. Mr. Wiggin was born in
Dover and spent his boyhood days there, attending the public
schools of that city. Later he attended Atkinson Academy,
and then the Hopkinton Academy of New Haven, Conn., from
which institution he graduated. He then entered the employ
of his father, who was engaged in the wholesale grocery and im-
porting business in Boston. At the age of eighteen years he be-
gan a successful business career in Portland, Me., and soon after
opened a store in Boston and began to ship general groceries to
the Southern States. Later he removed to Deerfield, where for
ten years he carried on a large lumber business. In 1874, dis-
posing of his interests in Deerfield, he came^to Manchester and
started in the "Old Ark," which stood on the present site of
Dunlap block, the Manchester Tea Company, which was a suc-
cess from its inception and has continued so ever since. After
remaining there four years he removed into a store in Music
Hall building, where he stayed four years, when he erected on
land leased of Alonzo W. Quint the building he occupied until
his decease.
Mr. Wiggin was a thorough business man, and he kept well
abreast of the times. His establishment has always been up to
date and has been ably managed by him. While a genial, so-
ciable man and a member of secret and social organizations, he
1 MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
was essentially a home man. His home was his favorite resting
place, and when not engaged in his business he spent most of
his time with his family and his books. He was a devoted hus-
band and father, and a substantial, upright and esteemed citi-
zen. A believer in good government, he did what he could to
further it, but was never what could be called active in politics.
He was never a candidate for office. Mr. Wiggin was made a
Mason in Rockingham Lodge of Candia, and he was a member
of Aleppe Temple, Mystic Shrine, of Boston. He was also an
Odd Fellow, being a member of Union Lodge of Deerfield,
while he belonged to Pioneer Lodge, A. O. U. W., of this city.
He also belonged to the Knights of Honor. He became a mem-
ber of the Manchester Historic Association in September, 1901.
The paternal ancestors of Mr. Wiggin for two generations
were Samuel L, Wiggin (1), who lived in Dover,' N. H., was en-
gaged in shipping, and died of yellow fever contracted in New
Orleans. He married Mary Fisher, daughter of Colonel
Fisher, of Dover, a farmer in good circumstances, and whose
farm comprised what is now the business portion of the city.
Their children were Janvrin, Samuel, Joseph, Charles and Sally.
The subject of our memoir was the son of the second child*
Samuel L. (2), who was born in Dover, and continued a resi"
dent of L that city until his death in middle life. He carried on
an extensive wholesale and retail grocery trade, besides doing
an important business in Boston. He married Harriet L.
Bruce, by whom he had seven children, Samuel L. (3), Joseph
H., r Mary Bell, Ellen Frances, Elizabeth Bruce and Harriet L.
Mrs. Harriet L. Wiggin was the daughter of Thomas Bruce, Jr.,
who settled in Sanbornton, N. H. He was the village black-
smith, and a man of prominence in the town. He was twice
married, Harriet being the daughter of his second wife, Miss
Sophia Footman. The father of Thomas Bruce, Jr., was
Thomas Bruce, one of three brothers who came to this country
from Scotland.
Mr. Wiggin is survived by his widow, who was Susan A. ?
daughter of Alpheus and Nancy (Hodgdon) Rogers of Dover,
and two daughters, Miss Ellen Frances, of this city, and Miss
EBENEZER FERREN.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. H
Pauline Gertrude, librarian of the University of West Virginia.
He also left three sisters, Mrs. Charles Wood, of Lowell, Mass.,
Mrs. Seth Bennett, of New York city, Mrs. Harry F. Ricker, of
New Orleans, La. He rests in the family lot in Chapel lawn,
Pine Grove cemetery. G. W. B.
EBENEZER FERREN.
Ebenezer Ferren, one of the oldest and best known citizens
of Manchester, died at his home, corner of Lowell and Walnut
streets, November 15, 1902, of old age and general debility. Un-
til about four weeks before his death Mr. Ferren was a familiar
figure upon the streets of Manchester. His last illness was not
painful, but was a steady decline, due to the gradual weakening
of the vital forces. His age was 85 years, 9 months and 3
days. Eben Ferren, as he was familiarly called, was a native
of Goffstown, N. H., where he was born February 12, 1817.
He was a son of Ebenezer and Mary (Eaton) Ferren. On both
sides he came of good, patriotic ancestry. His paternal grand-
father, Philip Ferren, was a Lieutenant in the Nineth New
Hampshire Regiment which did valuable service in the Revo-
lution, and was one of those who passed the memorable winter
at Valley Forge. His grandfather on his mother's side, Sam-
uel Eaton, was one of the heroes of Bennington under the heroic
Stark. The Ferrens are of English ancestry, and the original
ancestor landed in this country about 1640.
Mr. Ferren early adopted a talent for trade, and at the age
of twenty he was upon the road, carrying two tin trunks filled
with "Yankee notions," and later riding upon a "peddler's cart."
He followed this vocation several years, making money, so that
he was able in 1845 to °P en a dry goods and carpet store in
Manchester. He located on the site of the present Ferren
Block, on Elm street, which he built, the lower part of which he
used as a store, and the upper story was his home. After
twenty years of successful business, he retired with a fair com-
petence. Between 1848 and 1 881 he bought considerable real
estate which appreciated handsomely.
In politics Mr. Ferren was a staunch Prohibitionist, and was
Hi MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
a delegate to the National convention of that party at Indian-
apolis in 1888, and again at Saratoga Springs in 1891. He was
frequently a candidate on the State Prohibition ticket. As far
back as 1847, he was a member of the Sons of Temperance.
He was a member of the First Congregational Church of
Manchester, and was Treasurer of the Sunday School for ten
years, from 1883 to 1893. He was a member of the Man-
chester Board of Trade from the time of its inception in 1890,
and became a member of the Manchester Historic Association
in January, 1897. The only fraternal organization in which he
held membership was the Order of Free and Accepted Masons,
being a member of Washington Lodge of Manchester. A man
of strong convictions, and of an extremely benevolent disposi-
tion, perhaps no better revelation of his personal character is
possible than is indicated by the saying attributed to him, "I
have a God that is worth more to me than all the money that is
made."
He married August 7, 1849, Miss Adelaide E. Badger of
Warner, who survives him. F. M. C.
WILLIAM P. MERRILL.
William Parker Merrill was a native and life-long resi-
dent of Manchester, and one of its prominent citizens. He
came of excellent stock. His great-grandfather and grand-
mother were Abraham and Mehitable (Stevens) Merrill, from
Haverhill, Mass., who were among the earliest settlers of this
town. Two of their ten children were born in Haverhill, three
in Plaistow, as they journeyed northward, and the last five
in what is now Manchester, where the family settled about
1745, at Merrill's Falls, or Merrill's Ferry, as it was frequently
called, just below the old Granite bridge, and on or near the
site of the Gas Works in more recent years. Abraham Merrill
with Thomas George, were the first petitioners for the setting
off of a tract of land, lying partly in Chester, partly in London-
derry, and other land not heretofore appropriated, to be united
and form a new township, which request was granted and the
new town incorporated under the name of Derryfield in 175 1
William P. Merrill.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC Q JARTERLY. liii
Nathaniel, the ninth child of Abraham, settled in Hallsville,
now East Manchester, and married (first), Mary Young, daugh-
ter of Israel Young, by whom he had five children, the second
of whom was Israel, who married Nancy Farmer, and settled on
the east bank of the Merrimack, just below the Amoskeag Falls,
Captain Israel Merrill, as he was afterwards known, was em-
ployed by the boating company on the river, and on his own
account for many years, and is said to have possessed a more
intimate knowledge of the stream, its depths and currents, be-
tween Lowell and Concord, than any other man of that period.
History has also preserved a record of "A boat race between
his boat and another, which continued all the way from Boston
to Concord, and that after a very exciting contest, each striving
for the advantage, Merrill won by the length of a boat or so."
Captain Merrill was pilot of the steamer that made its first trip
to Concord, in 1817. He was a man of great muscular strength
and wholly without fear, and to the imminent danger of his own
life rescued, at different times, several persons from drowning.
ForHhe saving of the lives of two men and a boy on one occa-
sion, he was presented with an elegant and costly gold medal
suitably inscribed, from the Massachusetts Humane Society,
which is still in the possession of his descendants. After boat-
ing on the river was given up he purchased a farm on the Mer-
rill road in the Harvey district where he resided until his death,
ever manifesting by word and deed a deep interest in the church
of which he was a devoted member, and for the general welfare
and prosperity of the town.
William Parker Merrill, the immediate subject of this sketch,
was the eighth child of Capt. Israel Merrill and was born August
2 3> 1831. He inherited many of the sterling qualities of his
ancestors. He received his early education in the schools of
his native town, counting among his schoolmates such men as
the late Governor Weston, Joseph L. Stevens and others who
became prominent in after life. He completed his education at
Tilton Seminary in 1848 9, where he made the acquaintance of
the late John M. Shirley, Esq., of Andover, an acquaintance which
ripened into intimate friendship and which terminated only with
liv MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
the death of the latter some years ago. On the death of his
father in 1854, Mr. Merrill succeeded to the possession of the
old farm which he carried on until a year or two before his
death. He married July 13, i860, Charlotte Maria Boyce, who
died February 1, 1901. He was skillful as a farmer, success-
ful in raising a multiplicity of crops and the growing of a large
and excellent variety of fruits. He also found time to give to
public affairs, serving on the School Board for several years, and
holding other offices. He was a faithful public servant and gave
prompt attention to every act of official duty. In politics he was
a staunch Democrat, caring little for office, but always zealous for
the success of his party, frank and firm in the expression of his
opinions. He was an Odd Fellow, a member of the Patrons of
Husbandry, and active in the affairs of the Old Residents' Asso-
ciation. He was especially fond of travel and ample means
had permitted him to gratify his desires in this direction. He
had twice visited Europe, and for some seasons had spent the
winter months in Florida and California. It was while on his
return from a trip to the Southwest and the Pacific Coast that
he was stricken down. He had been for some days suffering
from a severe cold with symptoms of pneumonia, and on reach-
ing El Paso, Texas, he was too ill to continue his journey
further, and was removed to the hospital in that city, where
he died among strangers, March 5, 1902. His remains were
brought to his home in this city and buried in the old burial-
ground near his home beside the dear relatives and friends who
had preceded him. He was survived by two sons, Shirley
Merrill of this city and Oliver Merrill of Londonderry.
His friends will ever recall his love for his native city, his
great interest in its cherished institutions. Kind and sym-
pathetic, he had charity tor the weaknesses of others, a deep
and abiding sympathy for the poor, and tenderness and love
for those in affliction. S. A. O.
William H. Elliott.
MEMOIES OP THE MANCHESTER HISTORIC
ASSOCIATION. 1903,
WILLIAM H. ELLIOTT.
William H. Elliott, son of John S. Elliott, was born in Lon-
donderry, September 5, 1821. Whatever education the good
district schools of that town had to give he had received by
the time he was nineteen years of age, when he opened a store
in Manchester, having previously learned the trade of a watch-
maker. To this he added the manufacture of spectacles and
the sale of pianos, organs and musical instruments. This was
in 1840 and the older residents of the city will remember Mr.
Elliott as a leader in these branches of business for many years.
In 1842 he married Serena Cilley of Hopkinton, by whom
he had eight children, two of whom survive him, the Rev.
Charles F. Elliott of Greeley, Col., and Mrs. Ida F. Smith of
South Pines, X. C. Mr. Elliott devoted himself very closely
to his business, was a man of fine personal presence and had
an impressive way of conducting a trade which arose almost
to the dignity of a fine art. Consequently he was successful
in building up a large trade and was well known the country
round.
Mr. Elliott died August 16, 1902, and the Mirror and
America?! said of him:
"A polished gentleman of the old school, kindly in manner,
sympathetic in spirit, always careful of the feelings of others,
he applied the golden rule to his business life, and by careful-
ness and integrity built a business reputation than which there
lv
lvi MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
was none better in his native state. He must surely be missed
from the city which had so long respected and admired him."
A skillful and industrious mechanic, undisturbed by any
desire for office or political preferment and with good judg-
ment as to financial matters, he could hardly fail in the long
time given him to acquire a very considerable fortune. Not
far from the time when Mr. Elliott and his wife began life
together they occupied the house on Central street, vacated by
the late ex-Governor Frederick Smyth. At that time Monu-
ment square was little more than a cow pasture, shaded on its
northeast corner by some magnificent pines. In succeeding
years he built other houses, the most pretentious of which was
that now owned and occupied by the Hon. D. A. Taggart.
There are few incidents in the steady and orderly career of this
well-known citizen. It perhajDS may be worthy of record that
while a tenant in Smyth block, a burglar with dynamite and
jimmy failed to effect an entrance into his safe, of which the
outer lock was forced and dynamite with fuse attached found
in the door plate.
After a lively sprint through Elm back street the burglar
was captured by the police and his tools secured from the adja-
cent park, where he had thrown them. He was convicted and
sentenced for a term in state prison, but was afterward par-
doned out on account of ill health.
Mr. Elliott erected some of the best residences in the city
and built a twenty-tenement block at the corner of Chestnut
and Pearl streets. He was a member of Washington Lodge,
Mt. Horeb Chapter, Royal Arch Masons and Trinity Com-
mandery, Knights Templar.
His first wife died November 26, 1897, and he married for
second wife, Mrs. Helen M. Jones, who survives him.
F. B. E.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. lvil
GILMAN CLOUGH.
G-ilman Clough was born in Weare, N. H., February 24,
1825. He came of Eevolutionary stock. His grandfather
was Daniel Clough, Sr., a blacksmith by trade, who settled in
South Weare previous to the Eevolutionary war, in which he
served as a soldier. During his term of service, which appears
to have been exceedingly long, he was granted a furlough of
three months. The records show that he had to go to law to
secure payment for the furlough, but he won his suit. He
reared several children, and of these the only one to remain in
Weare was Daniel, Jr., Gilman's father, who was born in
Haverhill, Mass. He was favorably known as a reliable black-
smith, according to an old-time chronicle, and he also gained
a local reputation as a player on the violin.
Gilman was one of the twelve children of Daniel and Mary
(Colby) Clough, the brother and sister surviving him being
respectively the oldest and the youngest of the family. In
1848, Gilman married Miss Nancy E. Locke, of Dunbarton,
who survives him, and who, like himself, comes from one of
the oldest New England families. Mrs. Clough, in the fullest
sense of the expression, became a partner and helpmate to her
plucky husband. Shortly after their marriage the young
couple took up their residence in Amoskeag, near to the road
leading to Goffstown Center, now known as Grasmere. Later
they removed to what has since become known as the Governor
Straw place, and which was then a farm.
For about ten years Mr. Clough worked in a grist mill,
which was in operation above the McGregor bridge, and which
was then known as Mechanics' Eow. The mill was owned by
H. & H. E. Pettee, which firm afterwards became Pettee &
Adams, and is now Adams Brothers. During those years Mr.
Clough worked very hard, often gaining two or three days 7
extra time by overwork. For a considerable time he made it a
practice to work until midnight upon Saturday, and resume
lviii MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
bis task upon thu following midnight. In 1859 hie removed to
the Mil] Dam house, where lie resided until 1867, when he
took up his residence at 395 Maple street, where he remained
until his death.
In 1859 he drifted into the lumber business in a small way,
which, under his careful and sagacious management grew until
it became his leading enterprise, and raised him from a penni-
less young man to one of the wealthiest citizens of Manchester.
He was widely known as one of the largest and most extensive
lumber dealers in the state, and he had associated with him a
number of partners, including the late Lewis Simons and
George Foster, of the Chandler place in Bedford. His keen
foresight led him to realize closely the value of real estate, and
he came hoth to deal and invest largely in this, until he owned
several valuable real estate properties on Elm street, includ-
ing the block now occupied by the Xew City Hotel. His
latest achievement in this direction was building, in company
with B. Frank Welch, the handsome and well-appointed busi-
ness block known as "The Beacon."
Politically Mr. Clough was a Democrat of the Jacksonian
type, but he never sought an office or took an active part in
politics. Neither did he belong to any secret organization,
and the only society that could claim him as member was the
Manchester Historic Association. Till within a short time of
his death he personally looked after his property interests, and
attended to his business affairs, though he had sometime since
relinquished his attention to dealings in lumber to his son,
Lewis A. Clough. Mr. Clough was at the same time the most
quiel and one of the best known citizens of Manchester, and
the success of his life shows what can lie accomplished by the
steady, industrious young man. who starts out with the deter-
mination to work and to prosper, building his prosperity upon
the sterling foundation of honest purpose.
George W. Weeks.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. lix
GEORGE W. WEEKS.
Tradition, which in this case seems to be kin to fact,
says that the first ancestor of this honorable family in New
England came from Wells, Somersetshire, England, and set-
tled at Winnicut river, that part of Portsmouth now form-
ing the town of Greenland. His name was Leonard Weeks,
but nothing is known of his father. He reached the site of
his new home in February, 1660-61, where he passed the rest
of his life, dying in 1707. He was active in the affairs of the
day, and during the political contest in 1665 respecting the
separation of New Hampshire from Massachusetts he espoused
the cause of the last named, incurring considerable expense
as well as public rebuke for his outspoken opinions relative to
the matter. We learn by the records that he was fined to the
amount of ten shillings for the vehemence with which he
stated his arguments in controversy with another of opposite
views. In 1666, he was elected selectman, and he was after-
wards constable, while for several years he was sheriff. In
1669, he "was on a committee" with men from Dover and
Hampton, "to lay out the highway between Greenland and
Bloody Poynt."
George Warner Weeks, the subject of this memoir, was born
in Boscawen, N. H., August 12, 1827, the son of Dudley J.
and Lucy Sampson Weeks, being the youngest of their five
children. His mother dying when he was less than a year
old, George was taken into the family of Rev. Parker D. Fogg.
Mrs. Fogg, who was Betsey Sampson, a sister to his mother,
took a motherly interest in his care, and leaving most pleas-
ant memories in his youthful mind. Mr. Weeks in later years
always spoke of her as "Mother Fogg." At the age of fifteen
he went to live with his eldest sister, Mary Jane, who had
become the wife of the widely known harness maker of Hook-
sett, Benjamin J. Gile. George worked a short time in his
shop, and then came to Manchester, where he worked in the
lx MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
pioneer factory of the then young manufacturing town.
Within a year, however, we find him in Boston, and when he
was but a little over sixteen, he shipped as cabin boy on a
merchant ship bound for Calcutta and the Indian Archipelago.
The experiences of that two years' voyage upon one of the old-
line trading vessels was such as to leave a permanent impres-
sion on the mind of him who participated in them. Among
other adventures that fell to the lot of our cabin boy was the
burning of the vessel to the water's edge while on the return
voyage. This thrilling incident took place off the shore of
St. Helena, which island became a haven of refuge to the
castaways. During his stay here George sought the tomb of
Paul and Virginia, where he inscribed his name, a fact that
he always delighted to refer to in speaking of his thrilling
story of sea adventures.
Upon reaching his home-land he sought again the town of
Manchester, teaching school for several years in the Harvey dis-
trict. During this period he formed the pleasant acquaint-
ance of one of Hopkinton's fair daughters, and upon Sep-
tember 27, 1846, he was united in marriage with Miss Sarah
E. Mead, the daughter of Albeacham and Susan Clough
Mead. This union proved extremely felicitous, and the couple
made their home here in Manchester. Three children were
born to them: Laura A., who died at six years of age; Medora,
who married Alonzo Elliott; and George Perley, who settled in
Haverhill, Mass. The last two, as well as the widow and four
grandchildren, survived him.
Mr. Weeks had been attracted to the shoe business, and he
entered soon after his marriage the employ of Asa S. Trask,
who both made and sold footwear at 48 Elm street, midway
between Hanover and Amherst streets. Through his steady
industry and frugal habits Mr. Weeks had saved enough from
his wages so that in 1853 he was able to take advantage of
panic price's, and buy up a stock of goods with which to begin
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. lxi
trade for himself, which he did, realizing a handsome profit
at the outset. From this he increased his business until he
became one of the foremost shoe dealers in the city, sharing
with George W. Dodge and George W. Thayer the honor of
standing at the head of the boot and shoe trade in early
Manchester. His shop was in the old building known as
"The Ark," which stood where the Weeks block now stands.
He continued in his business without a break until 1873, when
for a short time he gave it up, only to return for another
period a little later. Finally he retired permanently from the
shoe business, and entered into fire insurance, in which calling
he showed such marked success he was made vice-president of
the People's Fire Insurance Company, filling the position with
credit to himself. In 1890, he withdrew from insurance, and
devoted the balance of his years to the care of his real estate.
As well as a man of strict business principles, Mr. Weeks
was a steadfast patron of music and a strong friend to educa-
tion. He was a member of the school board for several terms,
and president of the board for years. He was firm in his reli-
gious convictions, and one of the most zealous and energetic
supporters of the Unitarian church, being for several years
president of the society. In summing up his character one
of the local papers at the time of his decease (The Union) said:
"Mr. Weeks was one of the valuable men of the community.
Sound to the core in principle, he was a stalwart figure in busi-
ness circles, while his tastes led him to interest himself in
religion and the artistic side of life, in which spheres his in-
fluence was always wholesome. For more than half a cen-
tury he was in the public eye of this city, as a business man, a
leader in educational councils, a progressive religious layman,
a vigorous, many-sided man of affairs, and as those fifty years
and more are looked back upon, it is with a feeling of pro-
found esteem."
His death occurred upon the evening of September 10, 1903,
lxii MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
al his home. No. 102 Bay street, after a lingering illness aris-
ing from a complication of diseases, fourteen days past his
seventy-eighth birthday. He was a member of Lafayette
Lodge, A. F. and A. M.; Mount Horeb Chapter, Eoyal Arch
Masons : Adoniram Council, Eoyal and Select Masters ; and
Trinity Commandery. Knights Templar. He was a member
and Past Grand of Mechanics' Lodge, I. 0. 0. F., Past Grand
Master of the Grand Lodge of Odd Fellows of New Hamp-
shire, and Past Grand Eepresentative to the Sovereign Grand
Lodge of Odd Fellows of the United States. He became a
member of the Manchester Historic Association at the quar-
terly meeting, September 18, 1901.
G. W. B.
WILLIAM T. EVANS.
William Twombly Evans was the son of William and Han-
nah (Twombly) Evans, and was born at Barrington, X. H.,
August 13, 1824, one of a family of eight children. His
grandfather, Lemuel Evans, was a soldier in the Continental
army and a short time prior to his death received a land pen-
sion in recognition of his services. Both his grandfather and
father lived to the advanced age of ninety-six years.
Mr. Evans was married November 10, 1847, to Adaline
Frances Clough, of Bow, and they celebrated their golden
wedding in 1897. Four children were born to them, two
dying quite young, while a daughter, Addie L., died at seven-
teen, leaving one daughter, Grace W., who, with her mother,
survives him of the immediate family. Having already been
working in Manchester about two years, he now came to make
this city his permanent home. "He first went to work for the
late John H. Maynard," said The Mirror in its notice of his
decease, "and was afterwards employed in the Manchester mills
for about twenty years. He had charge of the repair depart-
ment for a Long time.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. lxiii
"He was elected superintendent of streets of Manchester in
the early seventies and served two terms, was out a year and
was then re-elected for another term. He performed the duties
of his office in a faithful and efficient manner and earned the
high respect of his fellow citizens. Some of Manchester's im-
portant streets were built under his supervision.
"After his final term of office he went into the wood-work-
ing business for a time, but for many years past he had been
engaged in the real estate business, making the care of tene-
ments his specialty. He gave his close attention to this up
to the time of his last illness, and displayed unusual energy
and activity for a man of his years.
"Captain Evans was a prominent figure in the old volunteer
tire department and was chosen foreman of Engine 6 Com-
pany in the early fifties. He not only distinguished himself
as a fearless tire fighter and a skillful leader of his company,
but under his captaincy the company won fame in many of the
big hand tub tournaments of those days. The title of cap-
tain, which was conferred upon him then, clung to him in
after years, as his fellow citizens and former associates remem-
bered his good works in the volunteers.
"Captain Evans was afterwards a member of the regular
tire department and was attached to one of the companies at
the central fire station on Vine street. He was with the Man-
chester contingent that went to Boston to render aid at the big
tire in November, 1871. He retired from the department
when elected to the head of the street department.
"Captain Evans was a member of the Manchester Old Resi-
dents' Association, the Manchester Historical Association, and
the Franklin-street Congregational church. He was active in
Odd Fellow circles and was a member of Mechanics' Lodge and
Wonolanset Encampment. He was a stanch Democrat in
politics and was an active worker for the party. He kept up
a keen interest in political work to the last year of his life,
lxiV MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
and the first election lie missed in the memory of his family
was the special election on the license question. Then his
health was too feeble for him to go to the polls.
"The deceased was a man of high principles, and his stanch
honesty, intelligence and high characteristics won him the
esteem of all who enjoyed his acquaintance. He was a man
of energy and activity, and sound judgment in business affairs
marked his transactions in public and private life. His gen-
erous and kindly nature and his ever courteous disposition
made him a host of friends/'
He died upon the evening of June 28, 1903, at the age of
78 years, 10 months and 15 days.
THE LATE RIGHT REVEREND DENIS M. BRADLEY",
D. D., BISHOP OF MANCHESTER.
In the death of the Right Rev. Denis M. Bradley, Bishop of
Manchester, the state has lost the best known, the most
widely respected, and most beloved citizen within her borders.
For eighteen years this prelate governed the diocese of Man-
chester, which comprises the whole state of New Hampshire,
and guided the destinies of the Catholic church within that
jurisdiction. For four years previous to his ele\ r ation to the
episcopate, he was pastor of St. Joseph's church, in the city of
Manchester, but his connection with the state and city goes
back even farther. Born in Ireland in 1846, he came to this
country at the age of eight, with his widowed mother and
five other children younger than himself. His childhood and
youth were passed in the city that was one day to see him share
the highest honors that the Catholic church can bestow.
The Bishop as a boy was sent to the old Park Street school,
which was then in charge of the veteran master, Thomas Cor-
coran. His good mother toiled and spared to give the lad a
superior education, and by the time he was ready for college
~" ' - '
RIGHT REVEREND DENIS M. BRADLEY, D. D.,
BISHOP OF MANCHESTER.
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. lxv
her scanty savings were sufficient to provide for him. In
1863, lie entered Holy Cross College, Worcester, Mass., and
was graduated from that institution in 1867. The fall of that
year saw him begin his preparation for the priesthood at St.
Joseph's Seminary, Troy, N. Y. Here he was ordained after
four years' study, on June 3, 1871.
The first four years of Bishop Bradley's life, after his re-
turn to Manchester, were spent in the busy occupations of the
pastorate of St. Joseph's church. New Hampshire was then
set apart as a separate jurisdiction of the diocese of Portland,
and the subject of this sketch was named as the first bishop
of the new See. At this time Bishop Bradley was in his
thirty-eighth year, the youngest bishop in the United States.
Though not robust in health, he knew how to husband his
strength, and he bent himself with energy to the great work
before him. His first duty was to organize a new diocese.
To those unacquainted with church government, it is diffi-
cult to understand the extent and importance of a work of
this kind. Upon the bishop devolves, ultimately, the care of
all the souls of his diocese. It is his to provide pastors for
them; his to see that they have suitable and convenient places
of worship. Schools must be built, orphanages established,
convents founded and maintained; so, too, with hospitals,
homes for the aged; in short, every need of every class, young
and old, must be provided for.
In the eighteen years of Bishop Bradley's episcopate, the
Catholic population of the state grew from 45,000 to 104,000.
The number of priests increased from thirty-seven to one hun-
dred. About forty new churches were built in different parts
of the diocese. There are today 12,500 children taught by
279 teachers in the parochial schools, the maintenance of
which would cost the state $275,000 annually. In Catholic
orphanages and asylums there are nine hundred children de-
pending, entirely or in part, on charity for their daily bread.
lxvi MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY.
Two large, well-equipped hospitals take care of the sick, and
ii is needless to say that difference of creed is no bar to ad-
missio7i there. An academy for young ladies and a college for
young men complete a Christian education for those who are
able to continue their studies. Such are the works left behind
by the good Bishop. Well may we say to the inquiring
stranger who asks for his monument, "Look around you!"
Bishop Bradley was a many-sided man. He was primarily
a churchman. The great works he accomplished were done
in the order of his priestly calling. He was a man of sterling
Christian character, of pure motives, of lofty ideals. Nothing
small or unworthy entered into his makeup. "'One felt in-
stinctively.'" said an acquaintance not of his faith, "that every
righteous cause would find in him a powerful champion, and
every mean, self-seeking scheme would be uncompromisingly
scorned." He was a man of deep spirituality. He thought
and planned and labored for Eternity. His measure of any
work was. "What does God think of it?" Such a rule of con-
duct kept him from earthly entanglements. This does not
mean that he was a recluse or a mystic. Far from it. No
man entered more readily into all that concerned the common
good. He was ever at the beck and call of his people.
"To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given,
But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven."
As a public speaker. Bishop Bradley graced many impor-
tant occasions. He was known over all New England, and
was called upon to preach in the larger cities at the consecra-
tion of bishops, at the dedication of churches, on notable
anniversaries, at college commencements, and the like, and
he always acquitted himself with distinction and brought
honor to the See he Tilled. His sermons were plain, direr!.
forceful. His familiarity with (he Holy Scripture was seen
by the frequent and apt use he made of Holy Writ in his
discourse-. He preached the gospel undefiled. His earnest-
MANCHESTER HISTORIC QUARTERLY. lxvii
ness, his sincerity, and his great charity added unction to his
words which never failed to impress his hearers.
Manchester never saw, and perhaps never will see, a more
magnificent funeral. All the bishops of New England, prel-
ates from different parts of the country, and priests to the
number of two hundred and fifty assembled to pay their last
tribute of respect to the honored dead. Civil authorities of
both state and city were there in full numbers, and thousands
of his own flock, unable to gain admission to the church, hung
about the sacred edifice while the last rites were being offered.
Such genuine grief is seldom evinced. The tear-dimmed
eyes and the choking sobs of the throng which took a last look
at the beloved prelate were a tribute more eloquent than that
delivered from the bight of the pulpit that day.
Bishop Bradley left no personal estate, but a small sum of
life insurance to be divided between two orphan nieces. He
served without salary as pastor of St. Joseph's cathedral par-
ish for more than twenty years, and asked only that the parish
bury him. The Christmas offerings in the parish church were
devoted to that purpose.
It was his dying request that a simple Celtic cross be placed
in the little plot in front of the chapel door, where the people
going in and out of church would see it and offer a prayer
for the repose of his soul. To comply with this last wish
will be one of the first duties of his successor in office.
J. B. DELANY.
INDEX.
(The numbers in figures refer to the pages of the body of the magazine, while
those in Roman numerals relate to the supplement.)
Adams, James O., superintendent of schools, 192.
Aged people of Dunbarton, 50.
Amoskeag Manufacturing Co., first sale of land, 143.
Analysis of Hanover spring water, 81; other springs, 84; Lake Massabesic
water, 85.
Ancestry of Chandler family, xxx ; Elliott, lv ; Ferren, li ; Kidder, xliii, xlvii ;
Mungall, xli; Parker, xxi; Parkinson, xxxix; Pettee, xl; Proctor, xxxv;
Weeks, lix, Wiggin, 1.
Arnold, Benedict, his character, 88; expedition to Quebec, 88.
Asiatic cholera in Manchester, G. C. Gilmore, 53.
B
Bartlett, Charles H., memoir, xxiii; portrait, opposite xxiii.
John P., with G. W. Morrison, 145.
Blake, William B., " Water supply of Manchester," 79.
Boatmen of the Merrimack, Kidder, 72.
Bradley, Rt. Rev. D. M., memoir, lxiv; portrait, opposite lxiv.
Briggs, J. F., " General James Wilson," 1.
Brookhurst estate, 193.
Brown, George H., residence, 202.
Dr. Thomas, death, 55; heroic part in cholera epidemic, 54; char-
acter, 211.
Browne, G. Waldo, "Narrative of James Johnson, 60-66; " Derryfield in the
Revolution," 110; " Josiah H. Drummond," 107-8.
Brown homestead, picture of, opposite, 124.
Brown's Island, picture of, 124.
Bunton, Andrew, death of, iii.
c
Campbell, Luther, est. of, 199.
Canals and locks, 69.
Carpenter, Josiah, house, 188.
Catholic church, growth in New Hampshire, lxv.
Cesar Harvey, 131-2.
Champlain, lake, early names, 62.
Chandler, John M., memoir, xxx: portrait, opposite xxx.
Chapine, Hannah, 207 ; Jesse, 206-7.
Charter members of Manchester Historic Association, iii.
Christian brook, 187.
Churches of Dunbarton, 36.
Clapp, Allen N., death, iii.
Clark, Lewis W., with Morrison, 144.
Clough, Gilman, memoir, lvii.
Cogswell house, the old, picture, 127.
Cohas Drook, picture, 123.
College graduates of Dunbarton, 43.
Concord Railroad vs. Lawrence Railroad, controversy of 1856, 146-7.
Corning, Warren, 208.
Currier, Moody, 143; death, iii.
lxix
lxx INDEX,
Deceased members oi Manchester Historic Association, iii.
Delaney, Rev. J. B., sketch of " Bishop Bradley," lxvii.
Derryfleld in the Revolution, G. W. Browne, 110-11.
Derryfleld men at Trenton, 114: Derryfleld nark, 31.
Drummond, Josiah II., "The Two .lames Rogers," 97: sl<. of. 107; portrait. 107
Dunbarton, sketch of, Ella Mills. 34: origin of name. 34.
Early Recollections of Manchester, Joseph Kidder, 65.
Eastman, Herbert, death, iii.
Eaton, Francis 1?., " Story of Lake Massahesic," 121-138.
Elliott, William H.. memoir, lv: portrait, opposite lv.
Kim street, east side in the 40s, 213.
Evans, William T., memoir, Ixii.
Expedition to Quebec, 88.
Falls road. 18S.
Farm life fifty years ago, 1G3.
Fellows, Joseph W., sketch of George W. Morrison, 139-158.
Ferren, Ehen, memoir, li; portrait, opposite li.
First town meeting in Dunbarton, 30.
Fishermen of early Manchester, 74.
Fitch, John Langdon. 144: Miss Maria, married to G. W. Morrison, 152.
Flanders, Dr. Daniel, 208.
Folsom, John, 130.
Eolsom's tavern, 130-1; picture, opposite 131.
Foster, John, " Story of a Private Soldier in the Revolution," 80.
French, John C, elected president of Manchester Hist. Asso., ii: death,
Gamble, John, 198.
Susan Stark, 194.
Gas pipes in Manchester, first, 101.
General Stark's Home Farm, Roland Itowell, 183-202.
Gilmore, George C, " Asiatic cholera in Manchester," 53.
Goffstown's " Old-time Muster," Plumer, 174-5.
Graduates of Dunbarton, 43.
Graham, William, of Auburn, 121.
Griffin, Sebastian S., " Major John Webster," 118.
Gavel, box and block, given Manchester Historic Asso. by R. L. Reed, xi.
H
Hale, John P., meets General Wilson, 16.
Harris, Rev. Walter, of Dunbarton. 30.
Hartshorn, Fred G., death, iii.
Herrick, Mrs. Clarisa P., memoir, xxxviii: portrait, opposite xxxviii.
Historic Quarterly, beginning, v.
Indian trails to Canada, til.
uprisings, 130.
Industrial school, site of, 199.
Islands of Lake Massahesic, 124.
Island Pond House, 131.
Jackson, President, visit to New Hampshire, 10.
Johnson. James, sketch of. 60; deposition. 01.
INDEX. lxxl
K
Kidder, Joseph, " Early Recollections of Manchester," 65; memoir, xxvi; por-
trait, opposite xliv.
Nathan P., memoir, xxvi; portrait, opposite xxvi.
Kimball, Oilman II., est. of, 192; Tavern, 200.
Kimball House, 189.
Keene light infantry, 12.
Kennard burned, 10.
Lake Massabesic, Story of, F. B. Eaton, 121-138; size of, 122; view, opp. 121.
Leavitt, Orrin H., " Old Bridge-Street Pound," 27.
Leateh, Deacon William, 135.
Library in Dunbarton, first, 50.
Locks and canals in Manchester, 69.
M
Major John Webster, S. S. Griffin, 118.
Manchester as a Village, William E. Moore, 211-214.
in 1843, old view, 70.
in 1854, from a painting by Bachelder, frontispiece.
Historic Association, history, i-iii.
Marking historic sites, lxv.
Massabesic, story of, F. B. Eaton, 121: origin of name, 121; hotels, first, 129.
Members elected to Manchester Historic Association, viii, xii, xiv.
Memoirs, Manchester Historic Association, 1902, xxi; 1903, lv.
Menagerie, first in Manchester, 75.
Merrill, William P., memoir, lii; portrait, opposite lii.
Military force of New Hampshire, 1859, 179.
Mills, Miss Ella, sketch of Dunbarton, 33.
Mills about Lake Massabesic, 134.
Molly Stark's Gentlemen Son, Mary C. Crawford, xvi.
Montalona, part of Dunbarton, 33.
Moore, William E., " Manchester as a Village," 211: " Pock Pimmon," 58.
death, iii.
Morrison, George W., J. W. Fellows, 139-158; portrait, opposite 139.
Mount Royal, Can. des. fortifications, 63.
Mungall, Andrew, memoir, xli; portrait, opposite xlii.
Muster, an old-time, by J. Trask Plumer, 172; old-time laws, 373.
N
Narrative of James Johnson, by G. W. Browne, 60-66.
New Hampshire regiment in Canada, '76, 91.
Ninth regiment officers, 180-1.
Normal school graduates, 43.
Officers of Manchester Historic Association, first, ii; 1903, back of title page.
Offutt, Mrs. Ann M., 130.
Edward P., 127.
Old Ark, 143.
Old Bridge-Street Pound, Orrin H. Leavitt, 27.
Old Cogswell house, picture and des., 127.
Old fair grounds, 187-8 ; first house, 188.
Old New England Pooftrees, M. C. Crawford, xv.
Old Time Muster, J. Trask Plumer, 172-182.
Old police court, 214.
Organization of Manchester Historic Association, i ; original members, iii.
Original Massabesic hotel, 129.
Old Folsom tavern, picture, opposite 131.
Old town house, 76.
lxxii
INDEX.
Papers published by Manchester Historic Association, v-vi
Parker, Francis W., memoir, xxi.
Perkins, Capt. David, personal efforts in behalf of M. H A lv
David L., death, iii.
David P., 151.
Pest-house on Mammoth road, 31.
Pettee, Horace, memoir, xl: portrait, opposite xl,
Platts, Clarence M., " Small-pox Epidemic in Manchester, 1834 203
Plumer J. Irask, " Then and Now," 159; " Old-Time Muster,'' 172
Pound keepers, 30. '
Proceedings Manchester Historic Association, vii, ix, xiii.
Proctor, John, 134.
Luther S., 134; memoir, xxxv; portrait, opposite xxxiv.
Quarterly meeting, first, iii.
Quebec expedition under Arnold,
Railroad, first in New Hampshire, 73.
legislation, famous case of 1856, 14G.
Ray brook, 191.
Pay brook estate, 193.
Pay, John. 191; children of, 191-2; farm, 193.
resofutioJof'tn^nks* P™ 1 a " d block ' vii: elected honorary member, viii:
Reform school, site of, 199; origin of, "00
Regimental districts in New Hampshire, 173.
Religious services in early Manchester, 77.
Richardson, Mary L., 6.
Rivermen of Manchester, 72.
Riverside estate, 193.
Roads of Manchester, 68.
Rock Runmon, sketch, 58; origin of name, 58; picture, opposite 58
Rogers James 34; deeds of, 98; of Londonderry, 97; of Dumbarton 10^
Major Robert, 51; 104.
Powell, Captain John P., estate, 201.
Ephraim K. , estate, 202.
Roland, " General Stark Home Farm," 183; with Morrison, 145.
s
Scammell, Third New Hampshire regiment in '76, 91.
School books fifty years ago, 164; life fifty years ago, 164.
Schools, early recollections of, 69.
Schoolhouses, first in Dunbarton, 40.
Scotch-Irish, traits of, 140.
Smallpox epidemic in 1834, C. M. Platts, 203-210.
Smyth house, site of, 189.
Soldiers of Dunbarton, 51.
Springs of Manchester, 28, si.
St. Lawrence river, name of, 62.
St. Francis mission, history, 63.
Stanley, Judge ('. W., 144-5.
Stark, Archibald, 34, 184-5.
Augustus, estate, 195.
Benjamin F., 195.
Caleb, 47, xvi.
Charles, estate, 199.
Frederick (;.. 187; estate, 201-2.
General John, 89, 186
Gradus B., estate. 201.
index. Ixxiii
Stark, John, 2d, 186; children of, 190.
John, 3d, estate, 194.
Miss Mary, of Dunbarton, 39. ,
Samuel, estate, 197.
Susan, estate, 198.
Stark burying ground, a gift to the city, 195.
home in Dunbarton, xvii.
park, a gift to the city, 197.
farm, valuation of, 202.
well, 199.
Starkstown, original Dunbarton, 34.
Stevens' farm, 31.
Stillwater, battle of, 91.
Story of a Private Soldier in the Revolution, John Foster,
Stowell, Col. Josiah, 204.
homestead, 204.
Sullivan's expedition in Mohawk valley, 194.
Summer boarders in Dunbarton, 50.
cottages, 135.
Taxpayers in Derryneld in '7G, 111.
Teachers of Dunbarton, 41.
Temple, Charles W., memoir, xlvii.
Thaxter grant, 183.
Then and Now, J. Trask Plumer, 159.
Three taverns, the, at Lake Massabesic, 127.
Truesdale, William A., memoir, xxiv.
Two James Rogers, The, Josiah H. Drummond, 91
u
Underbill machine shops, 135.
Uniform, state militia, 173-4.
Union building, Manchester, 212.
Valley Forge, winter at, 92.
w
Wallace, Rev. C. W., 77.
Dr. Thomas, 207.
Water supply of Manchester, William B. Blake, 79.
Webber house, 188.
Webster, Major John, S. S. Griffin, 118.
Joseph P., birthplace, 132.
Weeks, George W., memoir, lix ; portrait, opposite lix.
Leonard, lix.
Weston, Joseph R., memoir, xxxvii.
observatory, road leading to, 31.
Wheeler. William P., 15.
Wiggin, Joseph H., memoir, xlix; portrait, opposite xlix.
Wilkins, J. Mck., 200.
Willows, picture, 137.
Wilson, General James, Hon. James F. Briggs, 1-26: portrait, opposite l.
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